


The Life Changing and Ineffable Favour made by A.Z. Fell to AJ Crowley, Professors

by Crouvan, Fortheothermisfits



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: (sorta) platonic head and cheek kisses, Accidental Baby Acquisition, Accidental Cuddling, Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Alternate Universe, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Aziraphale to the rescue, Because I can, Car Accidents, Crack Treated Seriously, Crowley and Aziraphale are trying their best, Crying, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/F, F/M, FLUFF!!!!, False Accusations, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Feelings, Friends to Lovers, Gabriel is a good guy and bro, Getting Together, Good Omens References, Helpful TAs, House Party, Hugs, Human Aziraphale (Good Omens), Human Crowley (Good Omens), I'm just spouting tags here, Idiots in Love, Idiots to idiots but in love, Lawyers get involved, M/M, Protective Crowley, SO MUCH FLUFF, STRAP IN FOLKS, Sharing a Bed, Shopping, Single Dad Crowley, Stress, The Author Regrets Nothing, Their TAs are in love, They're professors, This will be a wild ride, Underage Drinking, Wrong, a bitchy cheerleader, a cute baby - Freeform, and a lot like their professors, and it will frustrate you!, because damn, but they got the spirit, everybody pleads for them to just get together, everybody thinks they're together, featuring some straight couples, gay as fuck, hahahahaha fuck, hand holding, human!AU, lovely ex, manipulative bitch, misunderstood ex, more like they know what they feel but are too much of cowards to admit it, no regrets, oh god this is a mess, oh look a plot, platonic intimacy, put us out of our misery, roses are red, school balls, slowish burn??????, so soft, soft!Crowley, some minor innacuracies, the characters are oblivious, there's a cute baby and our ineffable husbands take care of it so LOTS OF FLUFF, they a little confused, they all act like couples but they aren't, they spend too much time with them, uhh, understanding ex, violets are blue, yall this is wild™, yeah that's a real thing, yet - Freeform, you can pry my references from my cold dead hands, you thought we won't write angst?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2020-02-08 20:29:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 36,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18630715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crouvan/pseuds/Crouvan, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fortheothermisfits/pseuds/Fortheothermisfits
Summary: When Crowley finds a four month old baby on his doorstep, he panics. When he finds out she's his, he panics even more. So naturally, he calls Aziraphale, his friends and fellow teacher at St. Beryl's and who happens to owe him a favour. And when their TAs (and at this point, their close friends) volunteer to help them, accepting it wouldn't hurt.Join Aziraphale and Crowley as they venture through parenthood while juggling their responsibilities as professors and figuring out their growing feelings for one another.But with the bullshit life started throwing at them, will their bond last? Or would their ineffable plan come to an end?(Multi-chapter)(Rated T for language)orProfessor!AU. Aziraphale owes Crowley a favour. When Crowley wakes up one morning to find a child-his child-on his doorstep, he decides now would be a perfect time to ask for Aziraphale's help.P.S. -  read the tags!





	1. How it all began...

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! Thank you so much for choosing this story! I would like to thank @cadhla-marie and other people from Tumblr who helped me with details and Crouvan, my lovely friend, who helped me make this happen. Love you all so much!!

It was a quiet Monday morning in the St. Beryl's campus Crowley was working in. Only the faint voices of students and teachers can be heard. 

Another reason why it is such a beautiful Monday morning is because Crowley was fortunate enough to get free time as his first period (every Monday) this semester. Usually, he would use this time to catch a few more minutes of sleep, stroll around the campus and check the greenhouse plants if they are behaving well or chatting with other teachers. 

But due to the meeting the school staff held yesterday about the ball the university will host (in honor of it's anniversary) that lasted about several hours*, he got home pretty late and passed out as soon as his face hit his pillow. So, Crowley didn't get the chance to check all of his student's homework. So instead of just lazing around, he found himself rushing to grade all the essays passed to him**. Crowley was so engrossed on his grading that he nearly had a heart attack there and then when his friend and co-teacher burst into his office***. 

*which is an unreasonably long amount of time spent on a topic such as this. 

**he was slightly regretting his decision on making it a three page long essay. 

***Even though he almost spilled his coffee on the essays, the big smile and cheerful aura Aziraphale was giving off seemingly vanquished the long speech about knocking before entering his mind was creating at the moment.

“What –“, but the words died on his tongue when he looked at Aziraphale. The guy was practically glowing. Crowley’s mood instantly lifted a bit at the sight. 

So he just resigned himself to simply sigh and instead said: “Aziraphale, my friend, don’t you have a class to teach at the moment? What are you doing here?” 

And Crowley was honestly curious. Since Aziraphale was usually the prim and diligent one it was really not like him to miss out on teaching his little underlings. 

He was secretly already looking forward to tease the other man for being the one to “slack off” for once. He’d _definitely_ never let him live this down. 

Aziraphale gave him the brightest smile and answered: "Why yes, but my students are kind enough to let me see you for a moment. I have something very important to tell you."  
He then proceeded to show him an immaculate copy of Neil Gaiman's "American Gods", the cover still practically shining and brand new. 

Crowley raised an eyebrow, letting his friend continue.  
"You see, I just recently found out that Gaiman is signing his books from a nearby bookshop, and I was wondering if you could do me a favour and go to that bookshop and get this book signed for me." 

Seriously? All this because of some book signing?  
He was nearly about to make a joke about this, when he remembered who he was talking to.

This was _Aziraphale_.

Of course the one time he barely misses class is because of a book signing and not some serious case of a 40 degree high fever or the plague. 

And then Crowley watched as the light in the other man's eyes fade slightly* as Aziraphale realized the missed opportunity when his eyes wandered to the essays he was currently grading. Muttering an apology, the other man was already walking away from his desk and towards the door. 

Maybe Crowley was already too many coffees into today but nevertheless, he could not let that happen. So before he had really thought it through, he was already proclaiming: “No wait! I can cover for you!” 

* No, really, he could swear Aziraphale stopped glowing and his eyes lost shine!

He saw his colleague stuttering to a halt and sending him an incredulous look. Only now he realised, what he just said. Aw, shit. “Ehhhhh… I mean…” 

But he saw a teeny tiny spark of hope flicker in Aziraphale’s eyes. Ah, well, no way to back out now, he guessed. 

“I can cover your class for you, that way you can go and get it signed yourself”, Crowley started, putting on a reassuring smile (that probably still looked more like a grimace).  
“I have a free period now anyway, so no problem! Not a chance you can lose, right?” 

"But, your students’ essays..." , Aziraphale gestured to the still unmarked essays under his hand. Uuh, yeah, he had nearly forgotten those… 

“Ah, don’t worry”, Crowley quickly continued. “These aren’t due for another few days actually.* Haha, yeah, I know, me' not being behind schedule? Looks like it is your lucky day today, Aziraphale! Now off you go! I know how much you love that guy’s words.” 

*Pffft. Who was he trying to kid? Mostly himself, at this point. He just hoped the other man would buy it. 

Aziraphale's brain (which stopped working when Crowley said "get it signed yourself") managed to kick back into gear. He was meeting Gaiman. THE Neil Gaiman who never fails to entertain him*. 

Laughing in delight, he set the book down on a nearby chair to pull Crowley up from his seat and crush him in a big, warm hug. 

"Thank you, my dear! I definitely owe you a great debt. But-" he faced Crowley** "are you sure you're okay with you watching my class?" 

*He was especially fond of his and Terry Pratchett's masterpiece "Good Omens". The chemistry between the Angel Sheen and the Demon Tennant are simply marvelous. 

**Which proved to be a challenge and slightly awkward because they were still hugging. Well, HE was still hugging the slightly cold professor.

Crowley would have probably agreed to skin himself alive right now or something similarly uncomfortable. 

So he simply nodded. He was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that he was hugged like this right now. And feeling the warmth radiating off of Aziraphale made him realize how cold he was. Was he always that cold? Well, right now, he really, really wasn’t for once.

Aziraphale was beaming and back to glowing even brighter than ever before. That already made this whole ordeal worth it, to be honest. 

And it may have melted something inside Crowley he didn’t even know he had. Wait, what?

He shook his head to scramble some clear thoughts and said: “Well, sure. But don’t complain when they like me more than you afterwards, ha.” 

He tried to wink jestingly. But he didn’t know if it worked. His body was still not really listening to him. Aziraphale let go of him, and his body was strangely craving the warmth as soon as it was gone. 

The other man gave him the softest smile he had ever witnessed and thanked him yet again, practically skipping out the office afterwards. 

Later, when he stood alone in front of the foreign classroom he thought it might would have been wise to have asked what today’s lesson was actually supposed to be about. Well, shit. Aziraphale really did owe him big time for this. 

<0>

And thus here he was now, three years later with a phone in his trembling hand about to call in said favour that he had nearly forgotten about. 

Let’s hope Aziraphale hadn’t forgotten his side of the deal, because he REALLY needed help right now. Desperately so.  
He dialled Aziraphale’s number on autopilot and waited for the familiar voice to calm him down like always. 

“Crowley, my dear?! What a lovely surprise on this fine morning. Isn’t this a bit early for you, sleepy head?” 

He did feel a slight relief at hearing the cheerful voice but not nearly as much as he hoped. Oh no. He was starting to panic again. 

And THE THING chose that exact moment to start crying. Loudly.

“Aziraphale”, was the only thing he was able to get out before his voice broke and he had to swallow. 

“Crowley? What in jollies name is all that noise, dear?”, Aziraphale asked concerned. Crowley clutched the phone in his hand like a lifeline. 

“Aziraphale”, he started again, trying to take in deep breaths. “I… I need to call in that favour you owe me. Right now.”  
It was way too early on a normal weekday and they both had to be at work in less than a few hours, which means he had to start preparations now, but Aziraphale still said without hesitation:

“I’ll be there shortly!” 

He had heard Crowley’s voice and instantly knew something was very much wrong*. Crowley might be good at playing it cool most of the time, but Aziraphale had always been good at seeing right through him. And for Crowley to call in that favour it must be really bad. 

* not to mention the more than unusual time of day it was.

Crowley might have barely forgotten their deal from a few years back, waving it off as a joke and a deed done in friendship, but Aziraphale had not. He never did and always tried to make good on his promises in small ways anyway, but for Crowley to actually come forward and ask for it? Yeah, Aziraphale was really worried. 

Needless to say he made the drive over to Crowley’s small abode in new record time. Crowley, meanwhile, was not doing any better. 

As soon as he heard the click and his connection to Aziraphale was broken, he was left alone with his panic again.  
And the crying baby really didn’t help. 

Maybe he should do something about the crying first then. Yes. That way, he can postpone thinking about his own problems for a bit. Good. 

He made the few steps to the table where the baby laid in the portable baby cradle on shaking knees. Supporting himself with one arm on the table he extended the other to hesitantly bob the cradle up and down. 

“Please, I know how you feel, trust me!”, he hushed quietly, wanting more than anything to burst out into tears himself. “Please stop crying!” 

He must have sounded as unconvincing as he felt because the crying did not cease. Crowley raked his hand through his already wild hair. He was really lost. 

Not knowing what else to do he unbuckled the little child and picked it up. Surprisingly, as soon as it settled into his arms, it quietened. Crowley startled in surprise. The baby hiccupped and sniffed a few times, then it wiggled a little bit to make itself more comfortable. 

Crowley and the child simultaneously let out a sigh.  
Just in that moment the doorbell rang. 

“It’s open”, Crowley said just loud enough to make Aziraphale hear him but not loud enough to stir the bundle in his arms.  
Aziraphale rushed inside only to stop short at the confounding sight before him. 

A few moments passed without a sound. 

“That is a baby”, was the first thing Aziraphale noted when he came to. 

“Oh, you see her too?”, Crowley asked. 

Aziraphale shot him a look. 

Crowley sighed. “Well, that settles it then. There was a small, unlikely chance I had just dreamed the whole thing, but I guess not.” 

Aziraphale pursed his lips. Then took a deep breath. He hesitantly walked over to where Crowley stood, carefully taking a closer look at the little bundle. He may be immensely confused and irritated right now, but he was far from heartless and the sight was sweet and sugar. He was pretty sure not even the worst demon would have been unaffected by it. 

“Care to explain to me, my dear, what you’re doing with a baby here? Why is it here and who’s baby is it in the first place?”, he asked softly while looking down into the little infants round orbs. bright yellow orbs, to be exact. Maybe it's just because of the lighting.

“Well, it’s mine.”

Aziraphale’s eyes shot up to meet Crowley’s, still covered by his sunglasses. To think about it, he had never seen him without it. “Not funny!” 

“It really isn’t”, Crowley agreed wetly. And, oh god, Aziraphale saw the confused yet sincere look he gave him and KNEW. Crowley wasn’t kidding. And he was very close to breaking down right about now. 

He quickly, but oh so carefully, took the baby and put it back into the waiting cradle while just as carefully taking Crowley’s wrist and leading him to sit down on the nearest chair. Pulling up another chair he sat down close in front of Crowley and the table with the cradle on. 

"My dear”, he started gently, “I’m afraid, I need an explanation even more now.”


	2. Explanations, Stress and Worried Students

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crowley explains, Aziraphale comforts and their TAs meet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *gasp* Another chapter?? So soon??? Yep! But don't get used to it though XD. Anyway, thanks for coming in again! Mention of abortion (not too graphic though) so if that triggers you, skip the part where Aziraphale asks to open a letter. 
> 
> Enjoy!

_FLASHBACK_

There are three things that his mind comprehended when he woke up. 

One, his head was pounding mercilessly, so he's sure he was drinking something very strong the night before. The reason? He wasn't sure. 

Two, he was naked. And this would be normal except for the third thing that came into his mind – 

he wasn't alone. 

Slowly lifting his head up, Crowley looked around the room and saw his and a woman's (probably belonging to the person beside him) clothes scattered around the floor, the furniture and even his bedside table. 

When he looked over to the person however, his eyes widened in horror when he realized who he had slept wit. Out of all the people he could've brought home, his pissed drunk brain chose none other than his _ex_ , Lilith. 

Wincing at his poor life decisions, he slowly crept out of the bed and grabbed his clothes from the floor, putting them on one by one. He also picked up Lilith's things (he's a gentleman, thank you very much) and folded them neatly before placing it on the nearby chair. He was also going to dispose the used condom but to his confusion, he didn't find it anywhere.

Furrowing his eyebrows, he searched the room once more to no avail. 

Maybe he disposed it already the night before.  
Yeah, that should explain it. But why does he have this sinking feeling in his gut? 

Must be because of all the alcohol he drank last night.  
"Oh well." , Crowley muttered, looking at Lilith. "Time to wake up the beast."

_FLASHBACK END_

"I thought it was only a one night stand. A drunk mistake. As soon as I woke her up, she dressed up and left. I haven't talk to her since then”, Crowley sighed, leaning back on the couch and tried to even his breath. 

"Then she decided to dump our baby at my doorstep for Go – Sa – someone knows how long and it–I mean _she_ could have frozen to death!" 

The 4 month old baby stirred in her carrier, making the both of them freeze. 

When the baby let out a sleepy sound, the father continued: "I somehow sensed her at my doorstep and well, called you. I– I don't know what to do." 

Aziraphale let out a shaky breath, also not knowing what to do. But panicking won't do them good. Looking at Crowley, he picked up on the way Crowley was trying to copy his even (albeit shaky) breaths, his expression exhausted but calm.  
Although he me may seem calm on the outside, knowing the other man, he may be panicking inside*.He was so lost in thought that we was slightly startled when his friend spoke up again.

*They have grown close throughout the last three years. Since the favour, they talked to each other more often. They even dined at the Ritz every time they celebrated their birthdays. Aziraphale liked to think they went from simple colleagues to actual friends in that time.

"Thankfully, Lilith was human enough to buy her formulas and clothes and even bring her legal papers along with a white envelope", Crowley gestured to the stack of papers and the bag placed on the coffee table near the sofa.

Standing up, Aziraphale got the papers and examined them. What got his curiosity most is the white, unopened envelope. He showed it to Crowley and asked: "Dear, do you mind if I open this?"

"Go ahead, angel," Crowley muttered unconsciously, seemingly exhausted. 

Aziraphale* sat back down close to Crowley, carefully opening the envelope. Upon discovering the note inside, he immediately read it aloud for Crowley to hear: 

*He was desperately trying his best to ignore the blush creeping up his neck and the warm feeling blooming at his chest at the endearment Crowley had given him. The bastard started calling him that a few years back when they discovered he was named after an actual angel, Azrafael. Not now feelings that-totally-are-platonic! 

_"Anthony,_

_I know this is a lot. But my father insisted that she is better off in your hands._  
We cannot afford to let this mistake get in my way towards my successful future.  
I suggested to get rid of her, but that would add to my already too many sins so I decided to give birth to her and take care of her for a few months for you. Maybe this will redeem me in the lord's eye, and maybe you will be too if you raise her.  
I'm sorry for putting this heavy responsibility on you so soon, but she doesn't have a place here. Father forbids it. I forbid it.  
I named her Eve, after the woman who corrupted Adam's soul. The one who fell into the serpent's temptation.  
My maid packed a few things for her. I hope you both will be redeemed, especially with the curse you both carry. 

_Lilith."_

Turns out, Lilith wasn't as human as Crowley thought. She is a _monster_. 

*Well, there was a reason they never worked out.

After reading the letter, Aziraphale and Crowley are both fuming with anger as the air around them grew tense.  
Crowley shakily snatched the paper from his hands, crumpled it and threw it across the room. 

"Son of a bitch!", Crowley hissed, wiping the stray tears away.  
Crowley started pacing back and forth, his calmness starting to deteriorate. Aziraphale, although also very upset, forced himself to calm down. He knows they'll need a clear head to think things through properly. So, he tried to coax his friend into sitting down with him again. 

"Now, Crowley. I know you are angry –" 

"I'm not angry, Angel. I'm _furious_! Who did that woman think she was to treat a child – my child – like that?! Who does she think she is to call my child a mistake?! For all I know, she's the abomination and not Eve!", he shouted. 

Soon, whimpering was heard from the cradle, snatching both of the adults' attention. Crowley sighed, gently lifted his child up from the carrier, slowly rocking her back and forth. 

When Eve fell asleep again, he dropped his voice to a whisper and said: "We'll make that woman see who's the true mess-up. We'll let her see what she is missing out on. I'll make Lilith see how wrong she is about you and how unforgivable it is to even think about getting rid of you." Crowley cleared his throat, trying to get rid of the growing lump forming within. He needs to be strong, dammit. "I swear, Eve Cadeau* Crowley, I will protect you with everything and anything I have. And remember, you are a blessing. A special gift. And I–" Aziraphale didn't hear what Crowley was about to said next because the man choked out a broken sob, tears freely flowing down his face. 

*Cadeau is a French word meaning "gift" and is pronounced as "Kah-doo". It wasn't included on her birth certificate (that merely says "Eve Crowley") but he will find a way to include that there and make sure everyone will know she is a gift. 

Aziraphale's heart lurched painfully at the sight. He had never seen Crowley so open and vulnerable. Aziraphale is so used to the calm, witty, devil-may-care persona of the other man and this part of him is a far cry from what his Crowley usually shows other people. 

Out of pure instinct, he stood up and grabbed the shoulder of the crying father, guiding them all towards the sofa. As soon as they settled in, he wrapped his arms around the little family, kissing Crowley's temple as a sign of support*. 

*And considering what level of fairly new friendship they are still in, intimate acts like this should still be very uncomfortable. But for some reason, it all feels so _right_

"Dammit." Crowley sniffed, wiping his tears away with one hand. "I told myself I won't cry like this."

"Sometimes, it's okay to cry and admit you're having troubles. If I am not mistaken, showing emotion and vulnerability from time to time is good for the soul." He softly said, closing his eyes as he held Crowley (who held Eve) and ran his hands through his friend's hair. "For now, you need this. And I will gladly be the shoulder you can cry on anytime, Crowley."

"T– thanks, angel." Crowley whispered. 

"No needs to thank me, dear." Aziraphale answered. 

As the room grew silent once again, Aziraphale couldn't help but think about the letter sent to Crowley. It was from a woman named Lilith, the child's mother. If the contents of the letter were already very painful to read for him, what about Crowley? It would be unbearable. And if he isn't mistaken, it also mentioned something about a curse. Crowley didn't dabble with the dark arts now, right?

"Hey, what curse is that woman talk–" He wasn't able to get the chance to finish his question because of the soft snore he heard. Looking down, his co-professor had already fallen asleep, nose and cheeks still red from crying. 

Aziraphale took Eve from his arms and placed the precious gift back in the cradle. He joined Crowley again on the couch, removing the sunglasses before continuing to comfort his friend*. 

*A few minutes later he slowly dozed off himself, the two of them subconsciously basking in each other's comforting presence.

<0>

Eligos Forshaw would never say he was starting to fret. But he was, in fact, starting to fret.

He stood in the grand foyer of St. Beryl's campus, hoping to catch his tutor before class. He had gone over Professor Crowley’s ("Come on, kid. Call me Crowley. I feel old when you call me that.") notes for the day and come up with a great pun he could use to introduce the new historic era in their Advanced History class. Professor Crowley would always scoff and say he doesn’t need help with coming up with jokes, thank you very much, but all of them would make it into his lecture later on anyway, accompanied by a little proud smirk.

So here he was. 

And he’s nearly been here for the last hour.

It was not that unusual for the scattered and generally laid back professor to be a bit late sometimes (probably one of the reasons why he chose Eligos, the most reliable student ever, as his TA), but this was taking it to a whole new level. He also hasn’t been notified about any delays yet.

He began to nervously play with the immaculately knotted tie of his pristine uniform.

The thing that _really_ tipped him off, though, was standing a few feet across the hall.

Faith Bridgets.

A girl the same year as him and Professor Fell’s TA by trade.

You see, Professor Fell, who taught literacy, was a friend of Mr. Crowley and most importantly: He was never late. Ever.

So the fact that his assistant was standing around just as lost as Eligos was himself, was probably not a good sign.

He bit his lip and decided something had to be done. Maybe Faith had heard something from her Professor Fell and knew what was up?

So he summoned his strength and walked over to her.

He didn’t know why, but he always got incredibly nervous when he had to talk to the other girl. Not like she was intimidating or something. Far from it, actually, with her being rather small and lithe (though she could glare some serious daggers). Eligos couldn’t explain why, but she had always had that effect on him. So he had simply admired her talents from afar without ever actually getting close to her.

Which was obviously about to change today.

When he had tiptoed close enough he said: “Ummm…eeh...”

So much for eloquence. 

He rolled his eyes at himself. Where was his Everyone’s Darling persona when he needed it most?

“Hey, um, Faith, right? What’s up?”

There. Done.

Hopefully she doesn’t think him as dumb as he felt right now (he’s actually one of the most educated and a straight A-student, thank you very much).

Faith heard a voice call out for her from behind. She raised a hand up as if she was signalling the person to stay quiet for a second, focused on silently pleading for the professor to pick up. When she heard the call cut to a voicemail, she grumbled and ended the call with a bit more force than necessary. 

You see, the literature teacher has been exactly one hour, thirty minutes and 45 seconds late compared to his usual time and it completely worries her when he hasn't picked up the phone. He also hasn't called her to say if he had an emergency to attend to. So yeah, he could be seriously hurt for all she knows.

The redhead sighed and turned around, blue eyes meeting green ones. Noticing their close proximity, Faith stepped back a bit and cleared her throat. "Eligos right?"

He nodded.

"Oh, hi. How can I help you?"

Eligos scratched the back of his neck. "I was, um, I was wondering if you saw Professor Crowley around here. I've been waiting for him for the past hour and a half and still no sign of him."

"He's missing too? Professor Fell hasn't answered my calls either."

But before either of them could continue their conversation, Hastur and Ligur, the Head Coordinators of the school, marched towards them with a dark expression and figured it might be because of Aziraphale and Crowley's sudden tardiness. And they've seen what Hastur and Ligur do to people they dislike*.

*No, they don't murder them, they do something much worse- detention duty.

"This can't be good.", she muttered, looking at Eligos. "What should we do?"

Eligos saw them too and felt his heart sink.

Now these two were intimidating. And if he wasn’t fretting before he certainly was now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah! That was done!
> 
> You officially met their TAs, Faith Bridgets and Eligos Forshaw! What do you think about them?
> 
> Hope to see you all again! Oh, and check out the aesthetics me and crouvan did on Tumblr! 
> 
> Usernames:  
> Crouvan: @Itsmrscrouvanbitch  
> Kudos and comments are much appreciated :) !!!  
> Me: @fortheothermisfits


	3. Excuses, Rides and Misleading Finds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eligos and Faith cover for their professors and find a scene that makes them look at Crowley and Aziraphale in a whole new angle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back at it again with the early updates! So this chapter is mostly (read: entirely) humor and fluff, so enjoy it while of lasts, I guess *mischievous smirk*

In his panic, he did something he had seen his professor do multiple times in similar situations: He improvised.

“Well, we cover for them, of course”, he whispered to Faith and immediately straightened his shoulders. He put on his most angelic smile, waved his hand brightly and walked right into the dark duo’s path.

"Mr. Ligur and Mr. Hastur! Just who we’ve been looking for!”

Two pairs of absolutely unforgiving eyes turned on him, staring menacingly.

“You’ve been looking for us?”, Ligur started disbelievingly. “Interesting.”

“We’ve been exactly where we always are”, Hastur carried on. “In our office. Like everyone knows.”

“Except for _certain instances_ , when we have to take care of messes certain other professors caused”, Ligur concluded conspiratorially.

"We were checking the classes, seeing if the students and teachers are doing what they are tasked to do." Hastur started.

"And we noticed that both of the professors you were assigned to are not present." Ligur finished.

"And we were wondering if you could tell us their whereabouts? Judging on you looking a little lost, I presume they are late." Hastur concluded, looking at the two (internally panicking) TAs. 

It really took Eligos Great Effort to not let his dashing smile waver while he could feel the sweat breaking out in his neck and the cold creep up his back, but he managed. 

_Barely_.

”You see, that’s actually what we wanted to talk to you about!” Eligos said, trying not to show how nervous he is.

He thought Faith could stare daggers. Well, these two could stare SWORDS. 

“Our professors, Mr. Fell and Mr. Crowley, are planning this huge coordinated excursion right now since we’re currently reading books that overlap with both course’s lesson plans. Sooo…” 

So what? Where was he actually going with this? Think fast grade A-brain!

“Ehhh… So they’re currently sitting down together to compose an official request form for you guys. Which is why… why our classes currently have a previously unscheduled self-learn unit to get familiarized with the topic.” Yeah, that could work, he thought. Hopefully. “ They sent us, their reliable TAs, to tell you guys on short notice. Really sorry about that, kind sirs. But this thing is going to be huge”, he said and threw them a wink for good measure. 

On second thought, maybe the wink was too much. They really only worked for Professor Crowley. When he noticed their disbelieving looks, he winced internally.

“Huge, yeah, you said that already”, Ligur mused. "Their in their offices, right?"

"Why of course! Where would they be other than there?" He laughed nervously. They're so screwed.

Hastur nodded. "Alright. We'll be on our way to talk to them personally."

"No!" Eligos and Faith both screamed in unison, startling the duo. When they raised a questioning eyebrow, Faith decided to join the conversation.

"That would be a bad idea. They are _really focused_ right now, and disturbing isn't really ideal."

"Yeah! Uh, that's why they sent us to talk to you both." Eligos added.

“And which book exactly, pray tell, is this all supposed to be about?” Hastur asked, eyebrow raised.

Ah, shit. He knew why this is not his thing usually.

“’Lully ou le musicien du soleil’ by Philippe Beaussants” Faith said suddenly, copying his oh so angelic smile. “The Jean-Baptiste Lully biography. They’re also trying to get us a special screening of the movie in the local theatre. That’s why they’re so busy.”

Eligos could have flung his arms around her in ecstasy, but considering their current situation he resigned himself to simply look at her like she hung the moon.

And wow, she was way better at this play and putting up nonchalance than him. Even he believed her, although he knew it was complete sh – bullocks.

Ligur and Hastur scrutinized them for a moment longer then exchanged a look. 

“Hm”, Ligur finally said.

“That seems like a reasonable choice”, Hastur admitted reluctantly.

“We will have to let this one slide then”, Ligur said with a grimace.

“But we expect results, of course”, Hastur added.

“And reports to prove”, Ligur finished.

In one single swift move the two menacing figures turned to crawl back into the dark whole they came from. 

Their office. Eligos meant their office, of course.

Eligos let out a breath he didn’t think he had been holding.

“Phew, that went better than I thought”, he said. “Now I know why Mr. Crowley does it so often, haha.”

Faith shot him a look. “Yeah, because I saved us.”

“Well… Yes, you totally did”, Eligos laughed. “How did you come up with that anyway? Is that book an actual thing?”

“I was thinking about bringing it up with Professor Fell anyway”, Faith shrugged.

“Awesome!” Eligos was in awe, but then he remembered what got them in this situation in the first place. 

“Ehm… we should probably find out what our two professors are really doing right now. I mean, I did give the class some spare worksheets to work on, but that will not keep them busy for much longer, I’m afraid”, he said. “Do you have any idea where they could be? Because I already checked the offices. And the greenhouse…”

"Is empty. I've already checked.", Faith finished.  
Now they both are really lost. The two remained silent for a couple of minutes, trying to wrack their brain for an answer. If their offices and the other places they regularly go to are empty, then where could they be? 

Eligos gasped, laughing victoriously as if he discovered something life-changing. 

"Their houses! If they aren't here, surely they'd be there." 

"Possibly. You go check on Mr. Crowley while I go to Mr. Fell's.", Faith grabbed Eligos' elbow and speed walked out of the foyer to the parking lot. "Let's hurry up before Hastur and Ligur come up with more questions." 

Eligos got his car keys out his pocket, eyes roaming the sea of cars. When he finally saw the familiar glint of a black roof, he smirked. 

"You need a lift?" 

"No thank you. Got my own", Faith showed him a pair of keys before walking further into the parking lot. "You go ahead."  
With a shrug, Eligos settled inside his 1967 Chevrolet Impala, smiling proudly as it's dark, pristine exterior gleamed against the sunlight. But before he could start the engine, a loud roar tore through the place. And when he looked at the rear-view mirror, he saw Faith pull-over, on a motorcycle of all things (and what a beast it was).

“Ehhhh…”

His brain may have circuited at the sight. Enough to let him forget his own name for a second.

This girl, he swore.

Everyone was always going on about how “cool” he was, and as captain of the football team he could never complain about not being well-liked or popular with the girls. But next to Faith he felt smaller than Steve Rogers _pre-serum_ right now.

Approaching his window, she casually leaned over from her ride, gave him a piece of paper and said: "Call me if you find them, okay?" 

"And if I don't?" And boy was he happy his voice sounded steady.

"Still call me." She answered with a smirk, giving him a lazy salute, speeding off once again.

Well, that ended his last remaining brain cells then. 

<0>

Shutting her vintage Honda Shadow’s engine off, Faith unmounted her motorcycle and removed her helmet before walking towards the front of the flat to knock on the door. 

"Mr. Fell? Are you in there?" 

No reply. 

"Mr. Fell! Hastur and Ligur are looking for you! We don't have much time!" 

Still no reply. 

Before she could break into the place because of worrying about what could've happened to Aziraphale, Faith felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Getting it out, she checked the caller's ID only to find out it was an unknown number. Must be Eligos. 

"Did you find them?" 

"Easy there, tiger. I just arrived," Eligos answered through the phone. "Just called to check in on you. Any luck?" 

"None, unfortunately. No one's answering the door", Faith sighed, going back to her motorcycle to sit down. "How about you?" 

"Well, Mr. Crowley's Bentley is here so there's that", he replied. "Oh and door's unlocked. Should I go in?" 

"Try to knock first", she advised. 

Faith heard a tapping noise through the phone, followed by his voice calling out for the History teacher. After a few unsuccessful tries, he grumbled and went back to talking to her.

"No one's answering. I'm going in." 

"Be careful." Faith warned.

Pushing her circular, gold-rimmed glasses up her nose, she listened as Eligos opened the door carefully. When she heard the other's breath suddenly hitch, her heart began pounding as thousands of possible scenarios appeared in the front of her mind. 

"Faith? You may want to come here." 

"Text me the address. I'm on my way." 

A few minutes later, she rushed to get inside the spacious residence to find two things that made her halt in her tracks and her brain stop working.

One, there is a cradle placed on the table and Eligos is standing in front of it, peering down. 

Two, their Literacy and History teacher are sleeping rather peacefully on the couch, limbs entangled and foreheads touching. 

When her brain finally processes what she's seeing, Faith moved towards the cradle first, standing beside the still-gaping Eligos. When she followed his line of sight however, she could see why his chosen expression is like that. 

"That is a baby.", Faith muttered. 

"Oh, you could see it too?", Eligos asked. Faith shot him a look. 

"What? I'm just making sure I'm not going insane here. And our professors are cuddling! Cuddling! And they have a child?! Are they together?! I thought they were just friends!" 

"Calm down! We aren't even sure they’re together. Maybe it's just a platonic cuddle!" 

Eligos looked at Faith, then at the very domestic sleeping position of their respective professors, then back at Faith.  
"Nothing about that screams _no homo_ Faith..." 

"That's not the main issue for now. Remember what we came here for. Now that we found them we really have to get them to go to school so they could, you know, educate the students." 

"How are we supposed to wake them up?" 

And as if the child was listening to their conversation, it began to cry loudly, squirming inside the cradle. 

Panicked, Eligos picked the child up, gently swaying and shushing it. 

"Hey little fella. I don't know if you were trying to help us but I think this isn't-" 

"Eve!"

Crowley shot up, knocking Aziraphale off the sofa in the process, earning a pained groan from the other man. His snakelike, yellow eyes widened and looked around, trying to locate his child. When he realized that his surrounding were brighter than usual, he winced in pain and shut his eyes close, trying to locate his glasses.

Luckily he found a spare pair directly on the coffee table and put it on, already stumbling in direction of the crying. He reflexively took the child from Eligos’s arms without even registering he was there and instantly tried shushing it, humming gently.

“Oh you must be hungry by now!”, he determined after the anticipated relief did not come and Eve continued her cries.

“Quick, there’s some formula already prepared. Heat it up, will you!”

Eligos and Faith exchanged wide eyed looks. 

Eligos shrugged his shoulders. 

Faith rolled her eyes, quickly grabbed one of the bottles from the table in front of her and put it into the microwave. It only took a few seconds that were filled with Crowley’s preoccupied humming and more disbelieving looks of the TAs and the microwave dinged.

Eligos took it and hesitantly held it out to Crowley.

The teacher took it with a gratefully. Not as grateful as the little girl in his arms, though, who instantly began to suck eagerly.

Crowley sighted. And sucked in a breath as his brain finally managed to catch up with the last few seconds and his eyes met the still expectant ones of Eligos and Faith.

“Umm.”

“Oh goodness! What time is it?”, Aziraphale, who had finally managed to manoeuvre himself off the floor shouted suddenly.

“Well past the time you should have started teaching”, Faith answered.

“Shit!”, Crowley exclaimed. “I totally forgot that –“

“You calm down!”, Aziraphale was quick to reassure, patting Crowley on the shoulder. “You don’t worry, dear. You have more important things to worry about.” He stopped himself. “But, I mean… don’t worry. I mean, I’ll think of something.”

“We kinda already thought of something, but in order for it to work, we do have to get back to class sometime today”, Faith interrupted the two softly.

“Yeah… but… also… What?” It seemed to become a regular for Eligos to be speechless lately. Good bye, Mr. Dashing.

He honestly thought, he couldn’t get any more surprised today.

Crowley sighed. The damage is done, no time to beat around the bush now, he guessed.

“Eligos Forshaw, meet Eve, my daughter.” 

Turns out, Eligos could be even more surprised.

Eve, having finished the bottle, now looked around happily at everyone through big round orbs and let out a little satisfied burb.

The sound effectively broke the tension in the room.

“Oh wow, that is the cutest thing I have ever seen”, slipped out of Eligos’s mouth before he could think, making Faith laugh.

Aziraphale and Crowley smiled, lovingly looking down at the little girl.

“Okay, so you became fathers”, Faith concluded after everyone gathered their guts again. “Congratulations and everything – that actually explains a lot, by the way – but we still have to get back to classes now, because Ligur and Hastur are already breathing down our necks.”

“Um…” “No we -" both Crowley and Aziraphale started but the two TA’s were already gathering Eve's necessities and ushered them to get ready for the day*. 

*no offense, but they both _really_ look like hot messes right now.

“She’s only my kid”, Crowley began. “I mean… Aziraphale and me are not… I just needed a friend to help me a bit today.”

“Mh hmm. I could see that”, Eligos replied, biting his lip wile thinking back to the domestic sight that had greeted him*. 

* and of which he did totally not snap a picture off for future blackmail material, not at all.

"Sure." Faith hummed, mirth dancing in her expression. "You both need to get ready now. Take a shower and get into nicer clothes and everything. We'll watch Eve for you."

After a thousand thank yous and handing Eve to Faith, Crowley dashed upstairs to shower and Aziraphale hailed a cab* to go home and grab his suitcase.

*Faith and Eligos offered to give him a ride, but the professor insisted them to stay with the History Teacher, claiming he needs them more than him right now.

"So," Eli cleared his throat, looking at Faith and Eve. "Does this mean we have to work together a lot now?"

"Mhm." She replied, giving him a small smile.After a while, she held out a free handtowards him. "I'm looking forward to working with you more, Forshaw."

Eligos smirked, shaking her hand. "Me too, Bridgets."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boom! How is it so far? Tell us in the comments! Thank you all so much for coming in again!


	4. Classes, Chats and a Cheerleading Brat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They finally make it to class. Eve wears sunglasses. A ~~bitch~~ cheerleader is introduced.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am back!!!! Thank you so much for all the hits, comments and kudos! They mean a lot! And just a slight warning: how TAs work will be slightly innacurate from this chapter onwards. Please remember that this is fiction and we changed some things for the sake of the story and please, just enjoy :) 
> 
> Without further ado, here is the fourth chapter! And soak up all the fluff while you can :)

Crowley rode with Eve* in the back of the students car since they all decided he was still too out of it to drive on his own, especially with little Eve. Faith and Eligos had quickly briefed the two professors about their little scheme, earning many thanks and an especially approving look from Aziraphale whose eyes began to sparkle when he heard about the book.

*Eve is now wearing a pair of smaller, expensive looking shades like her unusually silent father, much to everyone's bewilderment. They didn't question it though, her dad has a lot on his mind already.

The few minute drive back to the school now was silent except for the baby’s unintelligible babbling from time to time.

The fact that the professor lacked any witty comebacks spoke volumes about the state of his nerves so Eligos decided to go easy on him.

And in no time they had already arrived and made their way to the classroom.

Crowley looked down to the baby now strapped to his chest and sighed. Oh, what a comical sight he most probably made right now.

“I’m probably gonna lose a lot of cool points for this, hm?”

“You’re only gaining a lot more”, Eligos said surely, looking softly at Eve.

“Hey, I did not make you my TA because you’re a suck-up!”, Crowley jested. But it had no bite, since Eli’s word were just what he’d needed right now and did a great number of reassuring him. He knew there was a reason he liked this kid.  
“Good play, by the way, what you did with the two devils”, Crowley praised. “So I _do_ have an influence on you after all. Who would have thought!”

“Not sure it’s a _good_ influence, sir”, Eligos retorted.

“No, it’s the _best_ ”, Crowley laughed and winked at him. Then he stopped.

They had arrived at the last door. 

He felt a hesitant hand on his arm and saw Eligos giving him a pat and a reassuring smile before he opened the door.

So here he was finally, after being late for nearly a whole period. And with a baby strapped to his chest no less.

He could swear he could HEAR every eyebrow in that room shooting up at once.

He could also swear it has never been that dead silent in the classroom.

“Sorry, I’m late”, he stumbled out. “Something came up with… my daughter?”

If their eyebrows would have been able to shot up even higher they would have. Maybe the was the sound of someone’s mind blowing up.

Crowley decided to just walk around the awkward in the room and made his way over to his desk, putting his bag down on the seat and grabbing his chalks as usual.

“I’m sorry, it won’t happen again.”

He turned around to sheepishly write the remaining lesson plan to the board, but stopped himself, arm halfway up. Who was he trying to kid, really?

He took a deep breath and turned around to face the class again. Everyone was still looking expectantly at him with big curious eyes. He sighed.

“Ok, look”, he started. “I am new to all this and to be honest, it’s probably gonna happen a few more times until I get into the swing of things.” 

Some of the frowns turned into soft looks, but Crowley ignored them for now and went on. He had to get through this. 

“You’d all really help me out, if you won’t make a big deal of it and just quietly start on your work and books already whenever something like this happens, so we could just dive in and use the rest of the lesson to full potential.”

In the back of his head, Crowley registered that they’ve probably never listened quite as attentively as this. He decided to seize the moment and continued unimpeded: “Eligos here usually has a rough outline of my lesson plans, so just listen to him when I’m not around myself.”

At this he stopped and sent a frantic look to the boy. He just now realised how much pressure he suddenly put on the him. He should have probably talked this through with him before. But as he found Eli’s eyes, the boy smiled brightly at him and gave him a thumps up. His eyes had the same proud look Aziraphale’s had, whenever Crowley proved to be less of an idiot than he seemed to be at first glance, ha. He knew the kid was a good choice.

Everyone else in the class also seemed to look approvingly, so he took his little speech as a success. He breathed a sigh of relief, took the chalk back up and turned back to the board again. 

“Okay, back to –“

“What’s her name?”, some girl suddenly asked. Consensual murmur arose.

“Yeah and how old is she?”, someone else asked.

Crowley sighed again. With a look at the clock he decided the lesson was as good as over anyway. No way they’d get anything done anymore. And Crowley himself was the least inclined, if he was honest.

So he simply turned around once again, sat himself comfortably back on top of his desk and smiled. 

“Her name’s Eve Cadeau Crowley and she’s 4 months old”, he said and settled back to answer questions for the rest of the class when the hesitant and curious murmuring grew into excited chatter. 

Better to get it out of the way right away anyway.

“Are you one of those single-moms now?”, someone shouted over everyone else’s head.

“Umm…”, Crowley blinked. “Well, I’m still pretty much _dad_ , but yes, I guess. Kinda”, he said hesitatingly.

“Wow, that’s so badass!”, the same person – he now identified as Georgie Malkovich – shouted. Not one of Crowley’s brightest students usually, but clearly he had to rethink that now.

"And what's with the sunglasses?" Another student asked.

"Uh, her eyes are a bit sensitive to light. It helps protect her eyes from the harsh LED lights we have and all that." he replied.

And while the class settled into this improv-game of Q&A, Crowley felt himself settle as well. For the first time since forever (that was actually just since today’s morning when he found the bundle on his doorstep), he felt himself relax and his worries fading. Some of them at least. He could finally breathe freely without the feeling of still being suffocated nonetheless. 

At least he had this. 

On days like this he really remembered why he loved his job and working with young, (mostly) non-judgemental minds so much. 

He smiled softly through the rest of the lesson, feeling every one of little Eve’s steady heartbeats against his chest.

<0>

"Goodmorning everyone, hello.", Aziraphale greeted, rushing to get to his table. He set his suitcase down and faced the class, clasping his hands together. "Hi. Um... I sincerely apologize for being tardy, an emergency came up and I lost track of time. I assure you, it will never happen again."

The class was absolutely silent.

"Did someone die?", A student asked grimly, making the students gasp in shock. 

"What?! Heavens no! Of course not!", Aziraphale answered almost immediately, quite shocked as to why this was the first thing that came into mind. He knows he rarely misses class but this assumption was just wrong. Getting his textbook out of the suitcase, he added: "I just...helped a friend with something."

"Is it Professor Crowley?" Frankie Bowers teased, making the class giggle. Aziraphale froze dead in his tracks. 

"Why yes." Aziraphale said, smiling a smile that is the epitome of 'I am not smiling because I am happy but rather because I am restraining myself from doing something I will regret'. "But does it affect your personal, social and school life in any way, shape or form?"

Faith snorted, quickly covering it up as a cough to prevent the poor girl from further embarrassment. The rest of the students who are loudly snickering are another story. Frankie sulked, crossing her arms over her chest with a huff. "No, sir."

"No what?"

Frankie glared. "No, it doesn't affect my personal, social and school life in any way, shape or form."

"I thought so." Aziraphale smirked, gesturing for the rest to open their textbooks. "Alright! Enough talk and open your books on page 158, today we are going to talk about American Literature so let's dive right into the works of a man known to be involved in the Salem Witch trials, Cotton Mather."

The discussion was... _interesting_. The students were a lot more attentive than usual, and they were giving him looks that can range from confused, concerned to borderline amused. They are _never_ gonna let this day, the only day he was late for class, down very soon.

When the bell rang, the students dashed out of the classroom. After making sure they were the only ones inside the room, Aziraphale sat down on his chair, feeling exhausted even though he didn't even do anything strenuous. And it was just his first period, for goodness sake.

"You okay there, professor?", Faith asked, setting the worksheets down to sit with Aziraphale. The older man gave her a small smile, patting her shoulder. 

"Yes, thank you for your concern. It's just been quite a morning for me." 

"You don't say.", She chuckled, pushing her glasses up. Her eyes gleaming with humor, she added: "It must've been a shock- because believe me, when we saw a child and you two cuddled up in the sofa we were baffled out of our minds..."

"Oh, dear. Not you too." Aziraphale groaned. " _We're friends!_ And nothing more than that!"

Faith let out a laugh. "Kidding. You and Mr. Crowley just looked so...peaceful, 's all.", Faith smiled. "domestic, even."

"Oh, shush.", Aziraphale rolled his eyes fondly at his TA, chuckling afterwards. "I never had a chance to thank you, by the way. And the way you improvised all of that with Eligos? Simply brilliant. Without the both of you, I am pretty sure me and Crowley would be in very serious trouble right now."

"What are TAs for, right?", She gave him a warm smile. "Plus, I was just getting to know you better, professor. It would be a waste to have your company and intellect thrown away. All those book trivia and novel recommendations would be sorely missed." 

Aziraphale raised an eyebrow. The way that remark was said was _very_ familiar. "Is it me or are you acting an awful lot like me?"

She smirked. "What can I say? You're influence is quite contagious. I can't help but adapt a few quirks from you."

"Thank you, Faith. Really. I am really lucky to have you as one of my closest friends, to be honest." Aziraphale said with the up most sincerity.

"Anytime, professor." She replied. 

"Please, feel free to call me Aziraphale. Well, as long as it's just the two of us. My endearment towards you can be interpreted as favoritism- goodness, it _is_ bordering favoritism- and you know how the others are with it."

"Dutifully noted, Aziraphale.", She nodded, eyes wandering at the clock. "Crap. It's two minutes until the next bell rings. You did prepare that quiz for AP English, right?" 

"Of course." Aziraphale opened his drawer to show her a stack of papers. "I hope they reviewed."

"Nightwood by Djuna Barnes?"

Aziraphale nodded, making Faith wince. "A tough one. I wish them the best of luck then."

<0>

Faith and Eligos were slightly regretting why they chose a complex lesson excursion for an excuse and not just a simple one. They could've just said something really important came up or the Bentley broke down on the way to work. But _no_ , they just had to complicate shit.

"Before we can do anything else, Hastur and Ligur are asking for reports and a formal letter addressing this big crossover excursion of yours, so we definitely need to do those.", Faith stated, grabbing one of the carrot sticks from Eli's plate. Eligos muttered a small "Hey! You have your own!" before shrugging and grabbing the biscuits from her plate. Ha! Revenge!

Crowley drummed his fingers against the table, still slightly anxious without Eve by his side*. Even though the students try to stay as quiet as possible to not startle the little bundle of joy, the baby still needs to rest and he can't just carry her around all the time, up and down the stairs, from classroom to classroom. So, he entrusted her to the school nurse, Anathema Device**. After reassuring himself for the millionth time, he decided to try and help the others come up with a plan to do this excursion thing. "How much time do we have to pass the reports?"

*It frightens him how attached he got with the child, considering Crowley and Eve had only been together for several hours. Parent instincts, he guesses.

**Witty but kind, Anathema takes care of her patients very well. She's the one who always patches him and Aziraphale up when their slightly clumsy selves decided to do something the wrong way. Besides, the clinic is the only place in the school where the lights are dim enough to prevent Eve from damaging her eyes because of _something_ she inherited from him.

"In a week.", Eligos said as he took a bite of his school meal. "And the presentation has to be a week before whatever the school planned for their anniversary-a ball, probably-so in total, we have about five weeks to prepare, give or take."

"Oh dear.", Aziraphale sighed and took a sip of water, worry written all over his face. Five weeks? The last time he had an excursion he and Professor Tracy needed at least nine weeks to prepare and analyze before presenting it to the students. "How can we all do this in five weeks? "Call me an old silly, but this thing may be near impossible."

"Nothing's impossible when you put your mind into it, Angel.", Crowley said unconsciously, the nickname slipping out of his tongue before he could stop it*. They watched in horror as Eligos and Faith choke on their drinks, coughing violently.

*they both only used the nicknames when it is only the two of them to prevent people from assuming that they are together (which happens a lot). This was the first time Crowley used his endearment in front of people- their students/TAs, out of all the people.

"Goodness, are you both okay?" Aziraphale fretted, handing them napkins while Crowley patted their back. The two TAs waved them off, claiming that their beverages just entered the wrong tube. 

"Anyway!" Eligos cleared his throat, still trying to recover. "I may have a solution to this problem."

"Do go on." Aziraphale urged, eager to change the topic as he was failing to cover up the creeping blush due to the little nickname slip. 

"Well, we could split the work in two. You and Crowley could work on the reports and lesson plans while me and Faith could gather more research, book the local theatre for a private viewing and just make everything look more interesting. And whoever isn't that busy could look after Eve.", Eligos explained.

"Are you sure you both can handle this? I mean, you still have your respective private lives! Eli, you got your mid season game coming up and Faith, you have your journalism club to handle!", Crowley asked. 

"And don't forge your schoolwork!" Aziraphale added.

"Relax, we're used to doing elaborate excursions and stuff." Faith reassured. "I mean, I've been juggling my academic and extracurricular activities since highschool so I can manage."

"And the mid season game isn't coming up until after the school's anniversary so I still have a lot of time to practice. My team could handle a few days without me.", Eligos shrugged.

"That settles it then.", Aziraphale smiled. "Thank you, really. For helping us."

"Don't mention it." They both said at the same time.

"Well, I must be off. I need to check on my daughter. You coming with, Angel?" Crowley stood up, not even bothering to hide the fact that he calls Aziraphale "angel" anymore. The snake is out of the bag or something. Whatever the kids say these days.

*And no, he doesn't feel a slight tickling sensation around his chest when he makes Aziraphale fluster at the nickname. Not at all. 

"Oh! Uh...me? Of course! I will help you with Eve after all..." Aziraphale stuttered, standing up and telling them to enjoy their recess.  
'  
Chuckling at their professor's silly antics, the two TAs continued their recess quietly, either planning or doing their homework. It was Faith who broke the silence first.

"You know, you're not bad." 

"Uh, what?" 

"As a student and TA, I mean.", Faith closed her notebook. "Compared to the others, you seem to manage being a good student and a campus sweetheart pretty well. Usually it's just the one or the other."

"Glad to meet your expectations, then.", Eligos chuckled, scratching the back of his neck. "I never knew you ride a motorbike. A Honda Shadow, out of all things!"

"Shhhhh!" Faith said suddenly, eyes wide and looking around the room cautiously.

"What? Why are you shy about this? Do you know how badass it is to-"

" _Shut up for a second!_ " She whisper-shouted. She looked down, nervously playing with the hem of her skirt. "You see, my parents weren't exactly thrilled about the fact that I'm not the daughter they expected. I'm not the dainty and girly package they wanted. When they found out I was taking lessons on how to drive a motorcycle, they were furious. I got into a whole lot of trouble just for learning it. And how do you think they would react when they find out I actually _own_ one this time?! So please, Eligos. Please promise me that you wouldn't tell anyone about this?"

 

"Aren't you the little rebel?", Eligos teased, ruffling her red hair. Faith let out an annoyed "Hey!" before pushing the jock away with a chuckle, rolling her eyes. "But don't worry, your secret is safe with me." 

"Pinky promise?", Faith said with all seriousness, holding out a pinky. Eligos let out a scoff.

"Seriously? But I have a reputation to uphold!"

"What reputation, Forshaw?" Faith raised an eyebrow. Eligos mocked offense, clutching his chest.

"You wound me, Bridgets." He said, intertwining their pinkies together. "There. Happy, _Cherub_?"

"Very, _darling_." Faith said softly before laughing. "Oh dear god, we're turning into our professors."

"Oh no. Should I wear sunglasses everywhere now? Is my hair turning red?" Eligos raised an eyebrow, making Faith laugh even more.

"You two look like you're having _fun_." Frankie cut in, ruining the whole moment. Her other cheerleader friends loomed behind her, looking at Faith menacingly. 

"Hey baby!" Eligos brightly greeted, standing up to give Frankie a quick peck on the lips. Faith felt something squeeze painfully in her chest. Weird. Maybe she didn't chew her food well enough today. "Uh, Faith Bridgets, meet Frankie Bowers, my girlfriend."

"Hi." Faith said blankly.

"Oh! I recognize you! You must be professor Fell's favorite _pet_."

"I am not his favorite nor his _pet_ , Bowers. He treats everyone equally, TA or not." the redhead answered. Frankie grinned wickedly. 

"That's good!", the other girl said. "Such a shame I can't help but favour _my_ honeyboo. And I'll make sure no one steals my sweetheart from me." She practically hissed, covering it up with a faux smile. Of course, Faith smiled back, just as fake and just as convincing (convincing enough that she stops herself from committing 5 charges of battery and assault). "And I am sure Eligos would do the same, right sweet pea?"

"Of course, Frankie.", He said, wrapping an arm around her waist, looking at her as if she hung the moon. "And what made you wander to this table?"

"Oh, you know. I just missed you.", She giggled, flirtily twirling her blond hair. "And I was wandering if you could buy me a drink from the canteen? Maybe a dessert too?" She said, running a sharp, manicured nail along his face.

"What?" Eligos asked, a bit disbelieving.

Faith saw how Eli's expression drop for a second before returning to it's usual, charming and handsome self. Woah, how did she just describe his face? "Don't you have your allowance?" 

"I did! It's just that me and my girls went shopping yesterday and I completely forgot to budget my money and ended up spending it all! And cheer practice made me _so_ hungry." She whined in a high voice, making Faith's head pound. "Please buy me a snack.?"

"Well, I guess I could treat you to a little snack..."

"Yay!" Clapping excitedly. She turned to her friends, who smirked knowingly. "What about my friends? They're hungry too!"

"But babe, I don't have enough money for your whole cheer squad. I'm saving up for-"

"Don't you love me, honeyboo?" She pouted, wrapping her hands around his neck. 

"I do! But-"

"No buts! If you love me, you will treat us all."

Eligos just sighed, defeated. "If it makes you happy..." 

Faith wanted to scoff at what the fuck just happened. She wanted to rip the bitch a new one and lecture her about how toxic she was to Eligos. About how wrong it is to treat someone like an ATM machine.

"Great! Now come on! I think Faith could handle herself, right?" She said, glaring daggers at her.

"Of course. Go and have fun with your girlfriend and her friends, Forshaw." Faith smiled, ignoring how her heart pounded painfully. Why is she suddenly having heartburn? She should really try to chew her food better next time. 

"Okay, see you later Faith.", Eligos waved, sending her a warm smile before turning away.

"Bye.", She replied, opening her notes yet again to try and distract herself from the headache that cheerleader caused.

<0>

As soon as they were out of earshot the girls started gushing. 

Usually Eligos wasn’t bothered by it, he didn’t even hear it anymore, it was just like background static for him by now – a side effect of always having a flock of cheerleaders around* you for sure. But today it irked him. Because he had heard them bring up Faith suddenly in a really not complimentary context.

*and why do they always come in herds, anyway?

"have you seen her eyeglasses? I bet she got it from her granny." One snickered.

"That makes a lot of sense, considering her outfits look prehistoric. Who even wears those anymore? Such a try hard." Another added.

He opened his mouth to tell them off, but before he could say something he was interrupted by Frankie’s death grip on his arm tightening even more.

“So, since when are we hanging out with… that?”, she asked in a sweetly susurrant tone of voice.

“What?”, Eligos asked. “You mean Faith? She’s cool.”

“Mh hm”, Frankie said, exchanging looks with the other girls, who started snickering again.

“I’m serious!”, Eligos insisted, getting agitated.

Frankie patted his arm. “Sure, honey. It just doesn’t answer my question.”

“Oh umm… just since this morning, actually”, he said. “We’re working on this upcoming joint excursion for Mr. Fell and Mr. Crowley.”

At that the girls giggled again. What are they even giggling about?

Eligos shot them an irritated look. Were they always this bad?  
It was really getting under his skin lately. 

It had been just last week were he even had to leave a party early because he couldn’t stand his girlfriend’s friends antics anymore.

Frankie had been so mad. He had to buy her a whole new wardrobe to make up for it. 

Eligos had done it without hesitation, of course, because he had felt like a dick*. But-

*a gentleman didn’t just leave his lady alone after all.

One can only take so much. 

“So, it’s just for work?”, Frankie's voice broke him out of his thoughts.

He nodded absentmindedly.

“Good. But I really hope you don’t overextend yourself, my little model student”, she pouted and looked up to him with big eyes. “I worry about you, you know”, she said, flashing her trademark faux smile. 

“That’s nice of you, hon, but of course not”, Eligos gave back. “It’s really not more than I normally do. Just different. And I don’t even have to do it alone this time!”

Frankie scowled at that.

“Even so. Can’t have you forget you have a girlfriend to take care of, right?”, she smiled oh so sweetly.

“How could I ever forget about you, honey?”, Eligos said, stroking over her cheek while taking out his wallet to pay for all their orders.

And really, how could he forget when he could still hear the high-pitched laugher of her friends ringing in his ear hours after they had left?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now you've met Frankie Bowers, what do you think of her? And if your interested, go check our Tumblr out! We even made aesthetics to go with it! Love you all!
> 
> Crouvan: @itsmrscrouvanbitch  
> Fortheothermisfits: @fortheothermisfits


	5. A Villian Plotting, Doctors and Getting To Know Each Other

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frankie starts to plot. Crowley and Aziraphale talk about something and Get to know more things about one another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am back! Sorry for the wait! Me and Crouvan did some research and rewritten this chapter a lot of times so we could get some facts right. It still may be a tad bit innacurate (we aren't doctors, but we tried our best) so sorry to the people who study medicine and are reading this XD. Anyway, hope you all enjoy this chapter!

It was already dawn. 

Most of the campus was already dark and deserted. How she broke into the campus? She had connections, of course.

The little computer lab in hall 2 was still brightly lit and had a lone menacing figure in it.

She had spent the rest of the day “doing research” which translates to “digging up as much dirt as she could”.

And unfortunately for everyone else, she could dig up a lot. She had her ways and enough connections to always get exactly what she wanted.

Currently she had it all: The looks, the cheerleading position, the poster boyfriend – she just wanted to make sure it stayed that way.

She was doing Eligos a favour, really. After all, her sweetheart had a reputation to lose!

He was already hanging around with the wrong crowd, what will people think?

And after what she had found out today, it was only about to get worse.

Apparently, that weirdo professor Mr. Crowley had a child now. It was all the campus had talked about after lunch. So that cow Faith and her sweet Eligos were not only working for some class project, they were helping with freaking babysitting! (Quite literal, because the father was a FREAK, you see. Ha, she was proud of that one.) 

Not only that: she had honest to God already found an adjusted workout plan and member lineup for the football team since her boyfriend was planning to economize.  
She can’t let these people ruin Eligos! Cost what it may*!

*And uuh, yeah, her budget would also be considerably smaller without her perfect – and rich – boy candy.

The secret group chat the students have are littered with baby pictures and hash tags such as "#cute", "#littlemissCrowley", "#whatswiththeglasses?" and the most interesting one: "#whoisthemother?"

"Aha!" Frankie grinned evilly, So she takes it that he isn't married and the child is the result of a fling or one night stand! THIS is good blackmail material. 

He will thank her later for this. When he finally had his senses back*.

*That redheaded witch had hexed him, probably. 

She had planned their perfect future together right down to the last detail after all. They were perfect for each other. No way she’s gonna stand by and watch him play family with someone else.

Well, they’ll all get what they deserve.

For now, she contented herself with the name and number of a certain theology substitute she had found in the school’s records. She had coincidentally worked on campus around a year ago. And more importantly: Rumour has it she had a fling with a certain professor with a fondness for sunglasses.

Her wicked laugh echoed off of the empty halls when she exited the sight.

Like a bad omen.

<0>

Ah, Saturdays. The day most people look forward to. You could spend the whole day sleeping and no one would bat an eye. You could take leisurely walks around the park, read a good book, spend time with your friends and do whatever you please.

Aziraphale mostly spends his time in his bookshop*, rearranging or cleaning** the place. Maybe sitting down with a good cup of tea and one of his favorite works while glaring at people who enter his shop. And when the weather is simply too divine to ignore, he goes to St. James park and feeds the ducks. But today however, he is going to spend it very differently.

*AKA his own private collection of rare books and you would have to kill him and pry a book from his cold, dead hands to get to buy something from the place (although he does sell some books-if he has two copies of it)

**yes, he does clean, Crowley.

Instead of holding a stack of books, he found himself holding little Eve, who was gurgling happily at the faces her father are making. 

They have been playing with Eve the whole morning, as well as doing some research on the proper way to raise a child. And they discovered that Eve really likes a good game of peak-a-boo, they immediately started doing it, taking turns. 

"Where's Daddy?" Crowley said in a tone where you know someone's talking to a baby, hands covering his face. Aziraphale giggled when Eve let out an adorable laugh when Crowley jerked his hands away from his face, which was contorted in a funny face. After two beats, both adults looked at each other with big, goofy grins.

"Did she just-"

"Had her first laugh? You bet, Angel!" Crowley said happily, scooping little Eve in his arms. Pride and warmth radiated from the father as he cooed over the baby, saying _who just had their first laugh? This little bundle of sunshine!_

And if Aziraphale took a quick photo of the whole thing, then that was his business and not yours.

After a few more minutes, Eve started to cry. Aziraphale, who seemingly learned to distinguish what type of cry Eve was making in a span of a week, stood up and went to go heat up a bottle of formula. And when she finished the bottle, the bundle soon fell asleep.

With Eve asleep, the two men were left in the living room, both a bit exhausted but otherwise happy. And maybe a thought or two in mind.

"Crowley-" "Aziraphale-" both of them started, making them chuckle. 

"You go ahead, my dear." Aziraphale said, nudging Crowley to continue. He took in a deep breath and pushed the sunglasses up his nose before speaking up again.

"I, uh..." Crowley started, scratching the back of his neck. "I want to talk to you about something important."

"Of course. What is it?" Aziraphale said solemnly, focusing on Crowley only and nothing else. The other thanked him quietly before continuing:

"I wanted you to hear this situation from me and not anyone else, so here goes nothing." Crowley sighed, facing Aziraphale. "Remember when Lilith mentioned a curse in her letter?" 

Aziraphale nodded, feeling a slight twitch of rage in the back of his mind. "Clearly."

"Well," Crowley let out a nervous sigh, rubbing his hands on his pants. After silently debating with himself, Crowley reached up to his glasses and lowered it gently until it was no longer in his face. Setting them down on the table, he opened his eyes and slowly looked up. "This may be what she was referring too."

Aziraphale stared at Crowley. Specifically focusing on his eyes. And for the first time, his blue eyes met Crowley's without the glasses obscuring them from view.

All those years of knowing and working with Crowley, he thought that Crowley's eyes would be a warm brown or even a nice shade of hazel, but it is actually prettier than what he imagined. Crowley's eyes are very beautiful (and bright) shade of amber, reminding Aziraphale of molten gold and raw honey. 

Crowley has golden, amber eyes. And they are absolutely _stunning_. 

When Crowley noticed Aziraphale’s ~~smitten~~ shocked look, he looked away, self-consciousness taking over. 

"I have this disorder called Oculus Albinism, a genetic disorder that makes my eyes appear brighter than they should be because my irises don't have enough eye pigment. It made me light sensitive, which is why I wear glasses all the time. When I was younger, it used to be much worse. I was actually crossed eyed and was bullied a lot. It used to hurt frequently, can't even watch the telly without having a cruel headache and all that. I'm lucky to get the proper treatment and the fact that it doesn't get worse as I age and actually gets better over time." Crowley explained, looking at Aziraphale again. "I've read somewhere that Type 1 Ocular Albinism in females aren't as worse as it is with males- especially since Lilith doesn't have it- but I still want to make sure Eve gets the proper medical attention. So, I actually scheduled an appointment with a doctor for Eve so her eyes could get checked."

The room grew silent as Crowley finished. A solid minute passed by before Aziraphale spoke up.

"Lilith was the first to know about this, I presume?" Aziraphale asked.

"Yeah, well, outside the family." He said with a small, sad smile. "She's the first one to actually kinda accept it, in a way. She doesn't ask me about it too much and doesn't get freaked out whenever she sees it. But sooner or later, her not so thrilled parents found out about us and brainwashed her into leaving me and what not, so here am I. It baffles me, to be honest. How Lilith wrote the letter. She used to be kinder."

"Parents play a big role on our lives, my dear. Especially with other people. We tend to change who we are to please them, unconsciously or not." Aziraphale reasoned. "Believe me, I know."

"Really?"

Aziraphale nodded. "Father has high expectations for us, you see. He praised Gabriel, my oldest brother, for being a champion football player and captain along with being one of the top notchers during the bar exam. He praised Uriel, my sister, for being the valedictorian in her all of her classes and successfully starting a business all by herself. And when it came to me, well, if you compared me to my siblings, I was _way out of their leagues_. I only wanted to have my own bookshop and to teach others since when I was little and that really didn't reach the standard of the old man."

"What did you do?"

"I learned a bunch of things for him- learned how to speak fluent French and Spanish, learned how to fence, even learned how to cook sophisticated meals! And yet, I just couldn't reach that standard."

"No offence, but your Father is a bit of an asshole." Crowley muttered, making Aziraphale laugh. "I mean, you fenced and spoke different languages and that wasn't enough?"

"It would be, but I think when I came out as gay, he wasn't that thrilled." Aziraphale admitted, Crowley's eyebrows shooting up to his hairline as a result. 

"Did you just- did you just come out on me?!" he asked, baffled.

"Wait, you didn't know I was gay?"

"No!" Crowley answered. Aziraphale turned a lovely shade of pink at the sudden realization.

"Oh, I am so sorry, my dear. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable-"

"Uncomfortable?" Crowley muttered, eyebrows now scrunched up. "I am not uncomfortable with you being _gay_ , Angel. I just wasn't expecting that, 's all."

"Really? Faith told me she knew my preference just by looking at my outfit on the first day we met." 

"I guess I'm just that oblivious." Crowley shrugged. "And since you came out on me, might as well do it too. I'm bi."

" _Really?_ "

Crowley hummed. "Yep. Why do you look so shocked?"

"I just pegged you for a ladies man."

Crowley scoffed. "I _was_ a ladies man back then, and I was also a _men's man_ or whatever the fuck you call it." he trailed off, making Aziraphale cackle at the silly term the other used. After a short while, he soon laughed along.

After laughing their asses off for a solid three minutes, they sat in comfortable silence, enjoying each other's company.

"Thank you for being honest with me, by the way." Aziraphale said softly, smiling at the thought of how much Crowley trusts him. He knows that Crowley really isn't the type to open up about private matters unless he was pissed drunk or very upset.

"Likewise." He smirked. 

"They're beautiful, by the way." Aziraphale said, blushing slightly. "Your eyes, I mean."

This made Crowley's brain short circuit. He's been called many things in his life because of his eyes, but beautiful? "Uh, t-thanks. Never heard _that_ one before. Gonna add it on the list then, eh?" he tried jokingky.

"My dear." Aziraphale said, inching closer, eyes filled with sincerity. "You and your daughter are beautiful, no matter what you look like. Don't ever forget that."

They remained like that for a few seconds, just staring at each other with content. Crowley was the first to snap them out of their trance, clearing his throat* and placing his sunglasses back. "Okay, I'll make sure to never forget."

*and no, he is not(read: he is) blushing.

"You better not, Crowley. I mean it." Aziraphale said. Suddenly, they both heard faint crying coming from upstairs.

"Guess we could go to that appointment I was talking about now." Crowley muttered before standing up to tend to his precious daughter. 

<0>

"What in hell's name is this?" He said in disgust, holding up a plain baby jumper. "You call _this_ clothes? And she expects me to make Eve wear these? Not on my watch she isn't." Crowley hissed, shoving the offending material into the bag it came with with burning hatred. "That's it. After the appointment with the doctor, we are going shopping."

"I think you're overreacting, my dear. Those jumpers look decent enough." Aziraphale chuckled as he watched his colleague give him a look, hand on his hips and everything.

"If you think I will let my precious daughter wear those clothes Lilith chose, then you are _dead wrong_. Me and you are going out today to buy her clothes, food, toys and a crib. Stroller too." He said with finality, strapping the baby carrier in his chest before getting Eve from him and gently placing her in it. "And it's about time to replenish our own needs, Angel. We do need to survive too, after all."

<0>

Crowley and Aziraphale waited for the results of the tests with baited breath. They watched Doctor Smith read the results carefully in front of them, occasionally letting out a satisfied hum. That's a good thing, right? 

Crowley breathed out, shaking his head. He swears on his life and everything he has that no matter what happens, he'll take care of Eve and love her no matter what. He's been through a lot of tough shit when he was a kid, and if you thought he'll let the same happen to Eve, you are dead wrong.

Aziraphale, noticing how nervous Crowley is, gently placed his hand on top of Crowley's, giving it a reassuring squeeze before letting go. The father looked up, giving him a thankful smile in return.

After thirty minutes torturous silence, Doctor Smith removed his glasses and set the results down, a small smile breaking out on his face.

"Thankfully, Ms. Crowley here has the mildest case of Ocular Albinism!" He said, relief washing over the two men like a tidal wave. "Ocular albinism type 1, like the one you have, is usually caused by mutations in the GPR143 gene. In these cases, the condition is inherited in an X-linked recessive manner. Women with one mutated copy of the gene usually do not have vision loss or other significant eye abnormalities. Her only problems are her light sensitivity and very bright eyes. Nothing a good prescription glasses couldn't fix."

"Thank you, doctor." Aziraphale shook his hand with delight. The doctor chuckled.

"Anytime. It is my pleasure to help these kids. She is a very lucky lass, let me tell you that. Now," He grabbed his glasses and wore them again, scribbling down something on his prescription paper. "Give this to nurse Rose- she'll be the one escorting you the way out- and she'll lead you to the pharmacy near the entrance. That's where you could buy Eve's prescription glasses and you'll all be on your merry way."

Calling nurse Rose, the doctor watched the men politely excuse themselves and follow her to the pharmacy. He was thankful that child had two loving parents.

After buying what the doctor prescribed, the trio exited the hospital with their chests light, minds clear from worries. Crowley was just driving out of the parking lot when Aziraphale spoke up:

"So? What's next on our little adventure, my dear?"

Crowley looked at his child through the rear view mirror, smiling at how cute she is but grimacing at how _bland_ the jumper she's wearing.

"Shopping, Angel."

<0>

drumming the last few beats on her kit, Faith smiled at her progress with the drums. Not bad at all. She was about to restart the song when she heard her phone ring at the nearby table. 

Hastily standing up, she made her way towards the table where her phone was and picked it up, checking the caller's ID. She answered the call immediately with a small smile.

"If it isn't it the campus sweetheart." she smirked.

"What's up, Cherub?" Eligos greeted over the phone. Ugh, he isn't gonna stop calling her that huh*?

*And no, she doesn't feel tingly all over. Absolutely not.

Well, two can play that game.

"What made you call, Darling?"

"Well, me and my team just finished practice and I was wondering if I could help you with setting up the excursion-help you book the theatre and do research." he said. "Maybe get milkshakes and fries afterwards?"

Faith snorted. "You're girlfriend is going to kill me. Spend time with her, not me. I mean, we've only known each other for two days!"

"Wrong. We've known each other for three years."

"Yeah, between group works and passing by each other in the hall."

"Don't forget the times you attended my games. Yes, I can see you from the bleachers, Cherub." He chuckled. "Thanks for cheering for me."

"Professor Crowley and Aziraphale attend the games as well. I merely accompany them." Faith blushed, pouting. "A nd bold of you to assume you are the one I'm cheering for."

"Who are you gonna cheer for besides me, then?"

"The mascot." She deadpanned.

"Geez." Eligos chuckled. 

"Still. Frankie is going to murder me! She was inches away from stabbing my eye out with a plastic fork. Did you see how she looked at me?"

Eligos winced. "About how she acted last Tuesday, sorry for her behavior. She tends to get...overprotective." He reasoned. "Even my team has to put up with that kind treatment sometimes. I know it's wrong." 

Faith scoffed. "Tell me about it."

"Really sorry. Anyway, meet me at the school's library at 3."

"Never said anything about agreeing to meet you. I barely know you and you barely know me*."

*which startles her a bit because she already feels so comfortable around him. They even have pet names for each other! (It's an inside joke for the both of them and there is absolutely no other explanation why they use it)

"Time to change that, then." He said, the smirk evident on his face. "So? You coming with? I mean, what are you doing anyway?"

She twirled her drumstick. "Drums. Problem?"

Eligos stuttered, clearing his throat. "I-uh-No! I mean-there's nothing wrong with girls-nothing wrong with you playing-it's awesome don't get me wrong-"

"Don't hurt yourself over there." Faith chuckled. "Fine, I'll come. But go home and change your clothes. Don't want to be with some stinky jock."

"Aye aye, Cherub. Don't be late."

"You bet your ass I won't be, Darling."

<0>

Leaning against the Impala, Eligos smirked as a familiar Honda Shadow Spirit 750 drive by him, speeding off to the farthest and most hidden part of the parking lot. Moments later, Faith reappeared, shrugging of her leather jacket to reveal the silky, maroon button up she wore underneath to match her knee ripped jeans. Her high heeled boots made a soft clicking sound every step she took.

Eligos pushed himself off the car and greeted Faith with a warm hug out of habit*, startling them both. Wincing internally, he gently let her go and gave her an awkward pat on the shoulder.

*he greeted his jock friends and siblings that way- with hugs. 

"Hey there! Uh, wow. Sorry for that." Eli apologized. Faith waved it off, chuckling a bit. 

"Eh, I don't mind. At least I know you give warm hugs." Faith smiled, nudging the jock playfully. Eligos smiled, shoving his hands inside his tan coat's pockets. 

"Y'know, with how you act and dress and all that, you start reminding me of our History teacher rather than our Literacy Teacher." Eligos said, changing the topic. "Your red hair even adds to the image."

Faith cocked an eyebrow, observing what the other was wearing. Tan overcoat, white button up, grey scarf and slacks. _Hmm_. "I don't know, Eli. Your outfit looks painfully familiar too. I'm sure I've seen it somewhere! Maybe I can ask our Literacy Professor about it?" she retorted.

Eligos blushed at the sudden realization, pouting. "I accompanied my mother in an errand and she insisted that I have to wear these. What's your excuse?"

"Fashion." Faith simply replied. "Do you mind if I keep my jacket in your car for a while?"

"Not at all." He shrugged, carefully taking it and placing it in the backseat. In a last minute decision, he decided to also grab the spare sunglasses he has stored on the glovebox and gave it to her.

"Here, wear this, It'll complete your Crowley aesthetic."

Faith took it, silently observing it. Hesitantly wearing them, she looked at Eligos and asked: "How do I look?"

"Snazzy." He said, giving her a thumbs up and a wink. 

"Come on, let's actually get some work done." She said, already dragging him towards the entrance of the library. "We got five weeks to pull this off and God knows we need a miracle to complete this."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is coming up soon and leave your thoughts in the comments! Lots of love from us both!


	6. Jealousness, Libraries and small friendly dates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Faith and Eli help plan the excursion. Frankie gets jealous. Someone opens up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, Crouvan here, your co-author! *jazzy hands* Thought I might introduce myself, too.  
> I'm beyond honored @fortheothermisfits asked me to join her on this ride and I wanted to apologize in advance for any future delays. Because those are definitely my fault for not submitting my scenes on time and not her (who is the biggest sweetheart and most reliable person ever)  
> Please continue to love & support, you amazing people xx
> 
> And hi! This is Fortheothermisfits (or Amanda. Let's stick to Amanda.) This chapter will be focusing more on the OCs (Faith, Eligos and Frankie) and the big excursion the professors are gonna have. Light mentions of loosing a loved one, so if that triggers you, please read carefully! 
> 
> PS: Azira, Crowley and Eve will be back next chapter!

“Did Hastur and Ligur get the formal request letter?"

"Yeah. Aziraphale and Mr. Crowley passed it yesterday and it was approved. They gave us a generous budget, actually." 

Both of his eyebrows shoot up. "Really? How much?"

"Enough to book a whole theatre to ourselves, Darling." Faith smirked.

"Gotcha”, Eli said. “I really do need a copy of the book, since I didn’t even know it existed few days ago, ha.”

Geez, he really had to get it together. He was still reeling from her grand entrance. Why did he always feel so stupid when he was near Faith? He wasn’t! (Straight As, remember?)

He quickly walked in front of the girl in order to hold the door open for her. If it came down to it he could at least still impress with his manners, okay? Faith just shot him a confused look and shook her head at his antics.

The school library could only be described with one word: old.  
You see, St. Beryl's has been standing for a very long time. Yes, the main building got renovated to look a bit modern (but keeping the aesthetic) and only the library was untouched. It honestly looked like the Hogwarts library he saw at the movies.

“Hello, we need two copies of the Jean-Baptiste Lully biography, if you happen to have it by any chance”, Faith said as soon as they reached the registration.

The librarian’s eyes widened for a moment and let out a quiet “That is rather specific” after a moment of before she checked the availability in her computer. After a few minutes, he gave them the row and shelf numbers.

The duo proceeded to collect what they needed, gathering some other period-appropriate literature on the way in order to compile some material for the historic context. Then they settled down comfortably in a secluded corner with a little seating area – they were going to be here for a while after all.

“Okay, I can compose a little overlook of the era already while you have a first look at the book to get into the topic." Faith said once they successfully balanced all the books on the small table and leaned back in the armchairs, removing the sunglasses he gave a while ago. Sitting up straighter, she gently poked the jock. "sound like a plan?"

"Yup." He nodded, grabbing the book. Then, he stopped opening it midway and said: "You have already read it, haven’t you?”, self-consciously. 

Faith’s smile while she casually took out her notepad to start writing was answer enough. 

So they began and Eligos digged into the infamous book, determined to make up for his apparent shortcomings.  
He was so deeply concentrated on his task he didn’t even notice Faith snorting a few times at his expense. Every time she looked up, the crease between his brows got deeper and his expression got more serious.

After a solid two hours of research, planning and a bit of dozing off, Faith set her pen and (already finished) notes with a yawn. She then decided to enjoy Eligos' little face journeys as he went through the book, an amused smile on her face.

Sometimes, they both catch each other staring at the other and burst out in little giggles, playfully throwing crumpled pieces of paper at each other. They'd also take breaks and talk about silly things like what if stars have feelings or what does the fox _really_ say?

Sometimes, people having a lot of fun tend to forget other things. Like checking their phone incase someone was calling them repeatedly.

<0>

"Ugh! Why wouldn't he answer me?!" Frankie screeched, picking up a pom pom and throwing it across angrily. A cheerleader dodged the projectile, nearly hitting her face.

"Maybe he's busy doing school work?" Another suggested.

 _Of course_ she thought. Of course her slightly nerdy* boyfriend would spend his weekend doing homework. And lately that meant he was working together with _her_ again.

*She would've help him outgrow that habit, but it proved useful when she was rather feeling lazy to do her homework.

Oh no. That wouldn’t do.

The redhead witch was already sneaking in on their lunch breaks sometimes and ruining his flawless reputation, now she's also trying to steal their weekends? 

Not on her watch.

Eligos was hers and she had never been good at sharing. She had a reputation to lose too, and she would definitely not lose it to someone like… like that Bridgets. Ew.

Her mind made up, she packed up her things, re-applied her lipstick and set out for vengeance.

<0>

Standing in front of the most old-fashioned building of the whole campus Frankie made a grimace. She hated the dusty, old place. The school was filled with rich students and created by rich people. Why couldn't they just replace this library with a bigger computer lab? Homework would be much easier*.

*She doesn't actually do most of her homework.

But she had no doubt that this is exactly where she would find the revolting duo. That four-eyed girl probably lived here anyway.

So she waltzed through the entrance into the library, nearly knocking someone else over with how hard she flung the door. The sight inside was more boring than clothes off the peg. (Which everyone inside was wearing. Or worse: second hand! Blergh!) 

It really was worse than she thought. And knowing that her precious golden boy was somewhere within made her all the more determined to save him.

She had already rounded quite a few corners and searched even more rows before she got her first clue. She had been close to thinking she had been wrong after all, when she had heard it: Eligos’ laugh.

Oh, she would recognise that anywhere.

She crept closer slowly, until she could get an actual glimpse of her boyfriend and that wretched teacher’s pet of Mr. Fell.  
The sight caught her breath. 

How unabashedly he was behaving and how he was laughing as freely as he did threw her off. She never made Eligos laugh that hard! Unfair! What type of drugs did Bridgets put him on?!

Frankie could feel her insides starting to boil. This is what kept him from answering her calls?

Well, that was going to change.

She quickly checked her appearance again – she had a bitch to cut – before grabbing a random book and sauntering casually past the seating area.

“Eligos, darling?”, she suddenly exclaimed in mock surprise, hand flying to her heart to complete the act. Eligos slightly jumped at the voice and how foreign the nickname 'darling' rolled off her tounge- like it didn't sound right coming from her. Weird.

Both TAs looked up in puzzled bewilderment.

Eligos was first to startle out of it. “Um, babe?”, he said uncertainly, though he eagerly got up to greet her with a warm, gentle hug.

 _No, not enough_. She was putting on a show here. Frankie grabbed his scarf and pulled him down for a proper kiss. Faith cleared her throat, picking up the sunglasses and wearing them again, hoping that it would shield her eyes from the fuckery Frankie was trying to do.

“Um, so, what are you doing here?” he asked, rubbing the back of his neck shyly once he was free. 

“Oh, you said you were busy with homework today so I thought, why not make the best of it and do something for school, too?” she purred.

“With a children’s pictural manual on how to take care of a cat?”, Faith piped up with a shit eating grin, sitting with her legs crossed and casually reading a book she grabbed from their little pile.

"Your not wearing glasses." She noted absentmindedly, foreign to how the other looked. She's starting to look like that freak of a history teacher. 

Faith stared at her, lowering her glasses enough to expose her blue eyes. "Why yes! I'm wearing contacts for today. I applaude your _impressive_ observational skills, miss Bowers."

Eligos snorted. Frankie sent her a wide eyed, scathing look, face getting red under her foundation.

"Why _thank you_!." Frankie said through gritted teeth, deciding to just play along. "The book, by the way, is for my biology class."

“That’s really cute”, Eligos smiled enamoured and kissed her temple gently before settling back down again. “That probably does offer a whole new outlook. Never thought of that.”

He was actually serious. Well, he's expression hinted that he actually knew that didn't make sense but was trying to support Frankie's decisions.

Faith rolled her eyes and groaned internally. Really, Forshaw?  
That guy was too soft for his own good, she realized not for the first time. How did he survive in a world like this for so long? And how did he end up with someone like Frankie?

And why did Faith even care?

“Umm” Frankie eyed the two of them and the little corner they sat in, noticing there was nothing else than the two already occupied armchairs and the overflowing table.

“Something wrong, Hon?” Eligos asked, face scrunching up in concern. Faith pushed the shades up her nose and decided to just bury her head in her notes again.

“Where am I supposed to sit?”, Frankie asked accusingly.

“Um, I don’t know, there are a lot of places here you could choose?”, Eligos answered confused.

This time it was him Frankie glared daggers at. She really needs to cut of this friendship quickly. Bridget's influence is starting to get to his mind.

“What do you think?” she hissed and her tone already made clear, that she thought of him as pretty dumb. Faith instantly got offended on his behalf. 

“What – what is it, honey?” he asked, even more confused.  
Frankie took a deep breath and bit her lip before she put on her sweetest smile to butter up to him again. 

“Well”, she said, deciding to sit on his thigh. “I thought, since we are already both here, we could just do our homework together. I called you to offer this, but you must have not heard it.”

“Oh, did you?” Eligos said apologetically. “Well, yeah, I’m sorry, my phone’s on silent. This is a library.”

“I called you ten times.”, Frankie pressed on.

 _“You called him ten times?”_ , Faith asked disbelievingly.

“My phone was still on silent”, Eligos mumbled ruefully.  
Faith shot him an even more disbelieving look. Why was he feeling bad for this?

“Look, babe, I told you I was busy today”, Eligos tried to reason. “And anyway, Faith and me were actually finished right now and were just packing up, because we still have to head over to the cinema. But hey, that means you can have our seats. This is a rather nice corner here.”

Frankie glared even more darkly at him. 

Eligos desperately hoped she wouldn’t make a scene. He didn’t want that in front of Faith. And he also didn’t want Frankie to be mad at him. Again.

“Are you honestly suggesting to leave me back alone?”, Frankie accused, knowing full well how to play her boyfriend.

Eligos stared. He looked at his girlfriend wide-eyed, then he looked to Faith who looked even more shocked than he felt.  
And then he decided to screw it.

“That – that was uncalled for, Franks”, he said firmly, voice a bit shaky. At least he thought it was. It was, wasn’t it? “Like I said, I told you I was busy today, remember? At practice this morning? It was a complete coincidence we ran into each other right now, and I’m glad to see you, babe, always – even if just for a short amount of time – but now we really have to carry on where we left off, okay?”

He paused to take a deep breath and noticed that the girl’s eyes got even wider than before, if possible. Meanwhile, Faith was just silently sitting there, giving him the look Aziraphale gives Crowley when he achieves something incredible.

“So no, we definitely can’t do homework together now, but we can hang out tomorrow, if you want”, he quickly finished, nodding reassuringly – mostly to himself. 

And with that he grabbed his remaining things with his left hand and reached for Faith’s wrist in the other hand, quickly pecked Frankie on the cheek and got out of the library before the bomb could blast.

It wasn’t until they had rounded the first corner that he dropped his shoulders, sighed heavily. 

“I’m sorry about that, Cherub.” he said meekly looking anywhere but at her.

Faith was still more than perplex. She still couldn’t believe this – admittedly incredible smart and charming – guy let himself be treated like that on one side while on the other he was also standing up to Frankie on Faith’s behalf. 

“Nothing you have to be sorry for, Darling.”, she settled on saying. _you deserve so much more_ she thought sadly to herself.

“Anyway, we really do need to head to the cinema now”, Eligos said, sending a tentative and hopefully reassuring smile in Faith’s direction. Seriously, was he still trying to cheer her up? Was he even for real? “And afterwards, I’ll treat you to that dinner I promised. It’s the least I can do to make up for – for this.”

That’s it. Faith gave up on him. Eligos was impossible. He's too good for this world.

“You did promise me milkshakes and fries afterwards”, she said out loud.

He laughed and started to walk again. She looked after him for a few seconds, shaking her head disbelievingly.

"Uh, Darling?"

"Yes, Cherub?"

"Your still holding my wrist."

"Oh! Sorry!"

<0>

The book in her hands was crumbling. 

In a fit she threw it against the wall behind the blasted all-to-comfortable-looking seating corner and grinded her teeth.  
She could not believe it. All her worst concerns and wildest presumptions were true.

And now he even talked back to her – in front of that lower girl no less.

She got stood up because of that _misfit_. She! The Campus Queen!

All that behaviour was more than suspicious. Oh, that dirtbag was definitely trying to steal him away from her. And it seemed to be working!

They seemed to be having way too much fun for it being school work. 

If she thought she was already winning, she was wrong.

She will get to know Frankie Bowers real good!

But for now, the cheerleader decided to find out just what exactly these two were doing today that was so much better than time spent with her.

<0>

“Cheers!”

“Cheers!” Faith laughed back.

They were currently seated in a booth in the quaint, little diner opposite of the local b-stock cinema and celebrating an overall successful first day of Project Lit Lully – as they decided to call it. (“Lit”, because the guy was lit and also because it was for a literature class – get it?)

They had gathered enough for a decent introduction and finished up the first few lesson plans and they had gotten a pretty good deal with the theatre. The staff actually had a beloved copy of the movie that was quite infamous in certain crowds. They were really excited to hear about their idea, though, since the number of both courses combined was easily more than the cinema usually managed to attract.

So yes, they really deserved to treat themselves a bit now.

“Damn, this is really good stuff” Faith said, slurping her banana milkshake happily.

“Told you this is the best in town” Eligos retorted, busy with his own cookie-dough one.

“Nu uh, I haven’t tried the fries, yet, Mr. Forshaw”, she gave back and reached over the table to do just that by grabbing some from the huge bowl they shared.

She let out a massive moan as soon as they hit her taste buds. Eligos promptly coughed up half of his milkshake at the sound. 

“Okay, you win”, she said still munching blissfully. “This is the best in town!”

Eligos was busy gathering some napkins to clean the mess he just spilled but he said: “Glad you appreciate it.”

“How could anyone not?”, Faith exclaimed affronted. She honestly looked as thought disliking this place would compare to a capital crime while she protectively stacked up on some more fries.

Eligos laughed. “Well, for one thing, because this place apparently looks “like a whole in the wall” and the food is greasy.”

“This is fast food, it _is_ supposed to be greasy!”, Faith scoffed. “It’s precisely why it tastes so good because that is a major flavour carrier. Simple biology, really”, she pointed out.  
Eligos laughed even more. 

"Then maybe Frankie indeed needs some more help with her homework.”

“Frankie said that?”, Faith asked, scrunching her face, trying hard not to let her disgust show too much. Of course that serpent said that. "She said this place looked like a whole in the wall?!"

The boy in front of her just shrugged and looked into his milkshake. “I took her here for one of our anniversaries and well… let’s just say we needed a new anniversary after that”, he joked.

“Are you serious?”, Faith couldn’t help herself. It just slipped out.

“I really should’ve known”, Eligos excused her. “This is obviously not her usual scene or any place I would normally go. I just thought… I don’t know, I always really loved this place and thought I’d do something special and different by taking her here.”

Oh my god, Faith would strangle that girl the next time she saw her. Maybe ask for Crowley's help and see of the rumors about the history professor having ties with a mob are actually true. She sure hopes it's true.

“I was so stupid, can you believe it? – Who am I kidding? you know me by now, of course you can”, he chuckled sadly. Faith’s eye began to twitch. “I had reserved the comfiest booth and even prepared that old jukebox to play one of that cheesy Elvis song- Can't help falling in love? Yeah, that's the one- but as soon as she walked inside she started to just-” He sighed, shaking his head miserably. 

Scratch that. Faith wasn’t going to strangle her, she was going to look up those torture methods from the Spanish Inquisition.

“It was really bad, I didn’t dare to show my face here ever since.” He leaned over the table and whispered: “This is actually the first time I am here since then.”

“You kidding?”, was the only thing Faith managed to get out between laboured breaths.

“Glad to know they are still as good as I remember!”, he said cheerfully and stuffed some fries into his mouth, trying to swallow the lump forming in his throat along with it. "My dad used to take me here whenever I had a bad day before he... _passed away_. He'll order a big-ass burger for himself while I get a cookie dough shake- just like this one. This place holds special place in my heart. Don't get me wrong, I love Frankie with all my heart, but getting humiliated in front of the patrons and workers here was just too much for me to handle. Actually cried after I drove Frankie to her home. What a wuss for a jock, eh?"

Faith sighed sadly. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"Don't worry. It was a long time ago." He waved off, trying to sound alright but his voice wavered, ruining the effect. 

It took every ounce of willpower in every cell of Faith’s body not to transform into a cloud of wrath right on the spot. There sat the absolute sweetest and most thoughtful guy she had ever met in front of her and he was blaming himself for his girlfriend’s stupid antics. 

She didn’t know what to say. She really wanted to comfort and reassure Eligos in some way – because it was definitely _not his fault_ – but literally the only thing that was running through her veins rather forcefully was: 

Why are you even together?

“Hm?” Eligos looked up from his next mouthful, looking rather hurt.

Oh shit. Did she just say that out loud???

Oh shit _ohshitohshit-_

“I – I mean… I’m sorry… I”, she tried to backtrack, but Eligos saved her by starting to laugh again.

“Nah, it’s fine, I get it! Food-racism is very serious for some people”, he winked at her. “Guess that would be a no-go for you, uh?”

Ummm… that was not Faith’s problem here. And it was definitely not about Frankie’s dislike for fast food – not only – but she’ll take the excuse anyway. So she quickly nodded to play along with the joke.

“I’m still sorry”, she added. “That was rather insensitive.”

“Trust me, I get emotional about my fries, too”, he said, still laughing while dipping some fries into the mayonnaise. “And to answer your question, well… I don’t know, she was nice, I liked her, she liked me… so…”

Faith raised her eyebrow.

“You know, it may not look like it with me being the "Campus Sweetheart" or whatever they call me these days, but… I am actually a bit of a goose?”, he continued, making Faith snort. “Shhh! Don’t tell anyone!”, he threw in. 

Faith laughed. His jock built may be deceiving, but he was still not good at keeping that part a secret, she thought. Eligos continued:

“Making friends was never difficult for me, really, but that doesn’t mean I’m actually confident while doing it. I don’t know… It’s difficult to explain… One wouldn’t think that by looking at me, I know, but that’s kinda part of the problem. They have all these expectations when they see me. And it’s hard to do all of them justice.”

Faith took his hands in hers and squeezed them comfortingly.  
“I know, what you mean”, she said. And she really did. Boy, did she know how that felt. She was so glad she had finally found someone like her. Another misfit by chance of false appearances and a prejudiced environment.

They shared a companionable smile.

Eligos looked at Faith as gratefully as she felt and his eyes looked as warm as his hugs.

“So when one of my new teammates introduced me to her at my first wild house party, he continued softly then. “I was trying really hard not to mess up. I mean, I’ve seen her at practice a few times, because she was a cheerleader already – not the captain, yet, since she was as fresh as I was, but – she was still a sight to behold.”

Faith fought down the urge to roll her eyes. This was about Eli right now. And he was actually opening up and showing her a rather vulnerable side.

“She was – well, you know how she is”, he went on with a small smile. “She was so confident. She’s as bright as one of those supernovas, putting everything else in the shadow” _And burning everything in capacity_ , Faith added mentally. “And I was like: Wow! I always thought her strength and determination is something very admirable. Something I always thrive to have, but struggle with sometimes, you know?” He grinned blissfully down at their joined hands for a moment and Faith had to swallow.

Gosh, this boy was so head over heels. Her heart constricted* painfully. Someone like Frankie does not deserve this. 

*At least she told herself she only hurt because of the tragedy of this. And definitely not because there were some other feelings starting to bubble up inside of her.

“So anyway, later at the party there was that shining star and guess what: she was actually talking to me and being nice and she listened – she actually seemed to like me. So yeah, I was over the moon and started courting her – ew, okay, this time, even I heard how old fashioned I sounded.”

Faith laughed despite the tears already gathering in her eyes. Get it together, girl!

“Anyway, here we are now! She said yes, in case it wasn’t obvious”, he cheered and clunked their milkshake glasses together before taking another swig.

Faith smiled at him sadly, clutching his hands tighter. "She's lucky to have you. Wish I would find a guy as good as you."

"You will." Eligos reassured, squeezing back.

After that little talk, they moved on to more safer topics. Spending and incredibly comfortable and joyful evening together as if they knew each other for ten years (which was only a week, in real life).

She was quietly sipping her milkshake when her thoughts were suddenly cut off by a bright flash of light and a shutter sound. Bewildered, she looked at Eligos, who was frozen in panic. 

"Did you just take a picture of me?"

"...no?"

Faith raise an eyebrow. 

"Alright, fine! I took a picture." He admitted, setting his phone down. "Just wanted to remember this day. Honestly, this is by far the happiest day I had this past week."

"Really?" Faith asked and Eligos nodded. She took her phone out and took a photo of jock too, with the flash and everything.

"Hey! what was that for?"

"Just wanted to remember this day." She smirked.

<0>

Eligos had bid her good night with one of those bear hugs of his.

"Be careful. Don't want you getting into an accident before we finish this excursion."

Faith chuckled. "Yeah, yeah. Keep your eyes on the road too, Forshaw."

He went inside the car, gave her a lazy salute and sped off in his Impala. Her mind wandered back to the other conversation again.

Eligos clearly cared deeply for Frankie. He was so fundamentally good, maybe it was Faith who was wrong?  
Maybe these confusing and disturbing feelings that she still didn’t acknowledge to have – but were still very much present – were obscuring her judgement?  
Maybe she was the unreasonably jealous one?

She shrugged on her helmet and made a decision. She would simply try again with Frankie some time. A fresh start – maybe they just got off on the wrong food*.

*yeah, food. Not foot. They met at the cafeteria after all. 

Sure they could never stand each other in the past. Frankie had always bullied her, even before Eligos came between them, but… well. 

Now they had something in common. 

She really liked Eligos and came to really treasure their friendship. So for the sake of that, she would be willing to try to bury the hatchet with her arch-enemy.  
Because Eligos was definitely worth it.

Little did she know that the girl she was talking about was just a few cars away from her, fuming with anger. Frankie saw the whole thing- the hand holding, the laughs, the heart eyes- everything! How dare she?

"You want war? You got one." Frankie growled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh oh! What is Frankie up to? Aziraphale, Crowley and Eve will be back next chapter! Thanks for stopping by!


	7. Shopping, Dining, Breakdowns and Pining

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aziraphale and Crowley go shopping. Crowley meets an old friend from the past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Hello guys! Thanks for coming back and being patient! Anyways, we really worked hard on this chapter and I hope its okay!
> 
> Trigger Warning for panic attacks, please read carefully.

"Oh, dear god." The yellow-eyed man muttered, looking around the baby store. It was filled with mothers, some holding their hyper kids and some cradling their swollen tummies. A wide variety of cribs and beds are displayed throughout the store. "I'm lost."

"I am sure we can figure this out. Maybe we could ask for help?" Aziraphale tried to reassure.

As the two men worried over what to chose, Eve is mesmerized by the different colors found around the shop. Her bright orbs roamed the place, soaking in everything she can. Giggling happily, she squirmed in her father's chest, eager to explore.

"Someone's excited." Crowley chuckled. "Come on, let's buy you a crib."

walking around for a few minutes, they realized that the shop categorized everything in three groups: boys, girls and gender neutral. Of course, they went to the gender neutral area, where everything is much more acceptable and neither blaringly pink nor blue.

"May I help you, sirs?" A clerk asked. Turning around, they were greeted by a young, vibrant woman, hair up on a loose ponytail and eyes shining. As her name tag stated, this woman's name is Antonya. Crowley hummed and nodded.

"Can you give us a recommendation on what to choose in this category? We both are very new with these...things."

"Ah, I see. Are you both newlyweds?" Antonya asked politely, an innocent smile in her lips. The two men flustered, stuttering.

"We-uh-he's not my-" Aziraphale vaguely gestured between them, clearing his throat as he tried to form a coherent sentence. "We aren't together. I'm just trying to help him."

"Oh! My bad. It's just that we want to show our support to any kind of love-as long as it isn't toxic." She smiled. "Anyway, Most parents buy this model actually." She gestured to the one behind her. It was wooden and a warm shade of brown. The bars on the crib reached up to Crowley's hip. "Simple, easy to build and affordable. It also come with a free baby monitor that can be attached right there at the corner so you guys could here your precious bundle wherever you go."

"What do you think Eve?" Crowley asked. Eve looked up at her father.

"Gabababa!" Eve said excitedly, flailing her arms around to justify her thought.

"Sounds like a yes to me." Crowley nodded. "We'll take it."

The clerk clasped her hands. "Great! I'll just get you a stock, and you'll be on your way. While waiting, feel free to look around for toys and clothes."

<0>

Taking the clerk's advice, they explored some more, adding different kind of jumpers, toys, socks and bottles into the cart. They were doing great, actually- considering it is their first time doing all this and only armed with a handful of late-night researches and some advice from other professors who has kids of their own.

Aziraphale spotted a cute little bow for Eve and decided to grab it. When he turned to his side to show Crowley his find, he slightly panicked when he realized both of the Crowleys are gone. No Anthony, no Eve.

Returning to the aisle they all have passed by before, he saw Crowley playing with Eve, who was seated in a baby chair* and giggling at the funny faces and baby noises her father was producing. Aziraphale found himself smiling, heart fluttering at the sight. He was sure it was illegal to be this adorable.

*the store was kind enough to place baby chairs all around the store to make shopping a bit easier for the parents.

He didn't have the heart to interrupt the scene in front of him, so he just stood there, admiring the father-daughter duo from a distance. And goodness, he hasn't seen Crowley smile _that_ big since, well, ever. Aziraphale can see how the worry lines in Crowley's face slowly faded, making him look much more younger. That goofy smile fits him.

He sighed, warmth blooming in his chest. _I knew you were secretly a softie, you bastard._

And of course, his heart started to go against him, producing a new emotion-a very intimate and dangerous one- and filling his brain with domestic thoughts and daydreams. Realizing what was happening to him, He cleared his throat and shoved _that emotion_ back to were it came from, locked it and stored it somewhere much safer.

_we're only friends! Nothing more than that!_

Approaching the two, Aziraphale looked in horror as the other man held a pair of circular, bright pink glasses, It's lenses looking like the surface of a diamond. His face was thoughtful and had this expression that shows he was concentrating and really considering something. He's gonna buy those glasses, isn't he?

"No, Crowley."

"Why?"

"Just _no_." Aziraphale huffed, placing his hands on his hips like a wife disappointed at her husband's antics. "How can she even see through those?"

Crowley hummed, slipping it on. "I could see through it clearly. 's just like regular sunglasses when you look through it."

"But Crowley! Aren't those a bit much?"

"Looks fine to me. Besides, she likes it. See?" He gestured to the baby, who got a hold of another pair, clutching it tightly while she looked at it with wonder.

"It's horrendous!"

"It's Fashion. Look it up, Angel." Crowley stated, looking Aziraphale up and down. With a smirk, he added: "You may wanna try it sometime."

Aziraphale gasped while Crowley cackled. "Oh I would never! Tartan looks good on me, thank you very much. At least I don't look like a person who didn't move on from his emo phase."

"Ouch." Crowley deadpanned, smiling when Eve grabbed his index finger with her little hands. "That's the best you got?"

_Oh, so that's how you wanna play it? Fine._ Aziraphale thought.

"Oh I don't know, my dear." Aziraphale smiled sweetly. "Ask your snake onsie."

Crowley gasped. "How did you know about my snake onsie?! No don't you walk away from me! Angel!"

<0>

"Okay, what is that?" Crowley sneered at the thing Aziraphale is currently trying on Eve.

"A sunhat. It will help protect Eve's eyes from the sun too." Aziraphale stated, smiling at how cute Eve looks with the sunhat on, stitched flowers designing it. Crowley has to admit, it looks good on Eve, but he won't let Aziraphale win.

"It's too much."

"The glasses were too much. This isn't"

"Come on! What if she doesn't like it?"

"Wikeybabagoo." Eve squeeled, clutching the hat.

Aziraphale raised a smug eyebrow.

Crowley let him win.

<0>

"Here we are, my little apple!" Crowley announced, dramatically flinging the doors open and startling a nearby waiter. Aziraphale sighed exasperatedly while Eve blabbered happily, clearly amused. "The Ritz!"

"Ah! Mr. Fell and Mr. Crowley! Welcome back!" Their usual waiter, Philip, greeted with a smile. He was about to escort them to their table when he saw the little bundle strapped on Crowley's chest and the bag of baby needs Aziraphale was carrying.

"I see you've taken the next step in your relationship, eh?"  
Aziraphale's cheeks were tinted with a lovely shade of pink while Crowley choked on air.

"I beg your pardon?-" "What relationship?-"

"Aren't you both....married?" Philip asked, embarrassment making it's way into his voice.

"Dear god, no." Aziraphale stated immediately. He then realized how rude that sounded and he might have offended Crowley based on his shocked look.

"I mean – not that I'm saying that Crowley isn't fit for marriage! – It would actually be an _honor_ to marry him, he has such a kind heart and – wait, that sounded wrong – He would make a great husband for his future partner but – "

"Angel." Crowley put a hand on his shoulder, a small, amused yet genuine smile on his (blushing) face. "We get it."

"I'm sorry for the misunderstanding." Philip apologized. "It won't happen again."

Crowley waved him off. "It's okay. We kinda get that a lot so we're pretty used to it by now."

"Really?" the waiter said in disbelief.

Aziraphale chuckled. "Quite so. Eve here is actually Crowley's daughter. I'm just helping him out a bit."

"I see. Well!" Philip clasped his hands together. "Your table is this way, sirs."

Meanwhile, two waiters were watching from afar.

"I told you they aren't together!"

_"Yet."_ The other replied, a knowing glint in his eyes

<0>

Crowley finished his slice of Angel's cake with a satisfied moan, drinking some water afterwards. He then watched Aziraphale play with Eve a bit, giving the baby a bottle of formula so she would have something to consume too.  
The father's heart fluttered at the sight of his best friend holding his daughter's little hand, making cooing noises and such.

He could feel a – by now familiar – nagging in the back of his mind again and quickly smothered it down like he was already used to. In fact, he didn’t even register doing it anymore since it had become such a frequent occurrence lately with him and Aziraphale spending so much time together and caring for Eve.

But this time his mind must be fed up. It just didn’t seem to listen to him because his thoughts wandered back to what Aziraphale had said to the waiter anyway.

_It would actually be an honor to marry him._

_He would actually make a great husband for his future partner._

Something about those word made his gut twist painfully and his heart tighten. Or maybe it's just because of not chewing his food well. Or maybe because of the feelings he was denying every moment they appeared.

His chest tightened even more. Along with his throat.  
Crowley coughed.

"Are you alright, my dear?" Aziraphale asked, face worried.  
Crowley nodded, standing up on already slightly shaking legs, he realized. Huh?

"Oh yeah, yeah of course. I just need to go to the restroom”, he managed to croak out somewhat decent to his own surprise – his throat had gotten _really_ tight suddenly.  
“Please watch Eve for me?"

"Of course." Aziraphale said with a smile.

On the way to the bathroom, his mind was racing. Those _feelings_ he had successfully ignored for the past few days started to resurface for real now.

Looking at his friend and his daughter and watching them like this? It had triggered everything he had been bottling up previously and now it was suddenly running over him like a freaking tsunami.

Oh god, is it this bad already? When has it gotten like this? How deep in denial had he been?

He needed to get to the bathroom real quick. He needed to clear his thoughts and most importantly gain back control over his face. And the rest of his body because he could actually feel himself slipping. Like his body did not even belong to him anymore. None of the limbs listened to him anymore. Or his organs. They seemed to collectively decided to work against him somehow with how painfully each of them constricted.

Aziraphale had already suspected something’s wrong – oh god, does he know? Crowley couldn’t let him know. Not yet. Probably never.

Oh dear lord, it really was that bad already – the feelings just kept coming! How many were there? Did they get stronger?  
He needed Aziraphale right now. He _needed_ him. He couldn’t risk losing him because of these stupid feelings coming between them and ruining everything.

He had to get it together!

Oh god, has the way to the restrooms always been this long?  
Sweat was starting to gather on his for head. On the back of his neck. In the palms of his hands.

Weird, since he felt incredibly cold all over, if he was honest.  
He absentmindedly raised his hand to lose his tie a bit only to realize that it was in vain since he was only wearing a lose v-neck.

Desperation gripped him.

He had literally just come out to Aziraphale. And Aziraphale had come out to him. They had established that they were friends who could trust each other. So he couldn’t just throw this trunk of feelings at him now and ask him to deal with it.  
It would be like taking advantage of Aziraphale. Of his kindness. Ultimately forcing him to accept Crowley’s feelings for the sake of their friendship. And Eve.

Oh, little Eve.

Wait, but – _Eve!_

All this actually started because Aziraphale owed him that favour. What if once he decided the debt was payed he just up and leaves? What if the favour was the only thing keeping him chained?

Especially if Crowley drops this bomb of undigested feelings on him.

No, that couldn’t be. Crowley wouldn’t let it come to that. He wouldn’t give Aziraphale a reason to leave.

So he had to sort this out by himself first.

Where the hell was the bathroom? What should he do? He couldn't just-

"Oh shoot. I'm so sorry!"

A familiar female voice said as they accidentally bumped into each other. Crowley's heart started to pump faster, blood running cold. He looked up slowly and came face to face with none other than Lilith O'Brian herself.

"Crowley?" She muttered softly.

Crowley’s mind short circuited then.

_No!_

Alarm bells started going off in his head. Quite literally: He couldn’t hear anything else over the ringing in his ears suddenly.

The only clear thought now was: _THREAT!_

He stared blankly through blurry eyes at the face of the woman who recklessly left an innocent and defenceless baby on his doorstep.

_Eve!_  
_Threat!_  
_Danger!_

He had to get to Eve! He had to get her away from here!  
Lilith’s features cut sharply through the fuzzy haze he was currently drowning in. Stabbing him painfully.

Oh no. _Ohnoohnoohno._

Lilith kept looking at him expectantly. She started to take a hesitant step forward again, coming closer.

That was the final straw.

His world tilted to the side – or rather: _he_ did.

He barely managed to catch himself on the nearest table top as his wobbly knees finally gave out and he stumbled. It was an instinctive move, not a deliberate one for he was not capable of those anymore.

The dishes on top of the table rattled violently and the guests around it gasped startled.

Lilith shouted out to him again, concerned now. Her arm reaching out. Crowley didn’t hear any of it, though. The ringing in his ears had gotten even louder.

He still couldn’t _breathe_. He tried to lose the already tattered beyond saving collar of his shirt again. Ripping it. It was futile. Why could he still not breathe?

His throat constricted tighter, tighter, tighter… Not letting any air through no matter how desperately he tried to swallow it. No matter how many more and more and more breaths he took.

He started hyperventilating.

_Eve!_ Get her… away...

What was happening?

He couldn’t control anything anymore. His head was spinning. It was spinning in an endless downwards spiral. A one-way-road with no guiding lights to either side and he could only watch helplessly like in third person how he sped over the speed limit straight into the hopeless void. Could only watch himself completely unravel every single fear, doubt and feeling he had kept bottled up at once.  
But –

_He had to get to Eve!_

His whole body trembled by now.

His lungs protested under the effort.

His heart beats so fast it might as well had stopped beating at all.

It _hurt_.

He was bathed in cold sweat from head to toe, though his blood was _boiling_. It was running hot through his veins, way too fast.

It hurt so much.

He was scared. So scared.

There was no way out and the only place available was getting continuously smaller due to the walls closing in around him.

_No!_

His unfocused eyes filled with involuntary tears.

The edges of his vision darkened.

He felt like falling but he didn’t know where up or down were anymore.

_Help!_

Nothing but white hot panic remained. Knocking him out.

<0>

Aziraphale quietly mused to himself while he exchanged Eve’s loved rash coloured cuddle blanket* against the bottle she had just emptied.

*”Oh my, look at this one,angel!” “No, absolutely not! What colour even _is_ that?” “Haha, I know, right! Don’t worry, it was a joke! Oh wow, it hurts my eyes even with the sunglasses on. No way I’d let her run around with this next to me.” They were interrupted by the most excited and ear cutting squeal ever heard by mankind and a little chubby hand that ripped the offending piece right out of her father’s hand and stuffed it into her mouth, cuddling it close and bubbling happily with sparkling eyes. The two men exchanged an utterly defeated look. The little blanket became Eve’s most treasured possession, of course.

Crowley had been unusually silent tonight, which hadn’t really worried Aziraphale – mostly because he didn’t even register it with how playful Eve had been today, keeping her busy and entertained while he watched her charming all the waiters and other patrons around them*.

*Like father, like daughter.

But then the other man had gotten so pale so suddenly that it had actually quite startled Aziraphale. And then that hasty retreat…

Suddenly a thought hit him. Was it all because of Aziraphale’s careless words earlier that evening?

He winced. Yeah, that could have gone a better way. He had probably made Crowley uncomfortable. Or offended.  
Either way, Aziraphale decided to simply talk to him again, as soon as Crowley returned. Better to get this out of the way and clear it up.

They were such good friends now. They can definitely talk about something like this now. Even if it meant Aziraphale had to admit having these embarrassing feelings.

“I just can’t help it, huh?”, he sighed to Eve, who looked at him encouragingly and waved that offending blanket of hers at him. Aziraphale laughed and tickled her. “Yes, exactly, just like how I can never help myself around you, you little bug!”

Aziraphale smiled and sighed. Truly, Crowley had quickly become an incredibly important person for him. And he trusted him like he barely ever did to anyone else*, so yes, he’d also trust him to be able to handle this stupid crush of his until Aziraphale managed to get over it.

*don't get him wrong, he trusts other people like Faith and Wli too. But his trust on Crowley as much more...different.

He was convinced by now, that Crowley wouldn’t hold it against him. And most importantly, he proudly liked to think that he meant a lot to Crowley as well and that the other man was sensible enough and wouldn’t want to dismiss their friendship over something petty and soon-to-be-over like this.

A relieved calmness filled him at the prospect.

Or…

Or maybe Aziraphale was reading far too much into this while fretting over his exasperating feelings, like he so often seems to do lately. Maybe Crowley had just swallowed something the wrong way.

The clumsy idiot.

He chuckled and shook his head.

“Maybe your father just ate too fast, hm?”, Aziraphale wondered aloud while he cleaned anything that the girl had spilled during her feeding with a napkin. Eve used that exact moment to cough and let out one of her heartfelt, bubbly blurbs.

Aziraphale laughed.

“Yes, I know. That’s _your_ job, isn’t it, sweetie?”  
Then Aziraphale noticed the commotion. And what a commotion it was!

He looked up puzzled and his eyes instantly widened at the sight.

There was Crowley – right in the middle of it and looking even worse for wear than before.

Crowley was stumbling and nearly falling into a fully laid out table. A glass fell and spilled its contents, the woman it hit started shrieking, but Crowley… he didn’t even seem to register it, he was still trying to catch himself, desperately holding on to something and clutching the table cloth with white knuckles.

He was shaking.

And very obviously close to hyperventilating.

Oh no.

Without a blink Aziraphale was on his feet. He swept up their things, threw the now full bag over his shoulder and picked up Eve. His free hand absentmindedly fumbled in his back pocket to pull out some notes that covered their bill (and most definitely also the broken glass) and threw on the table absentmindedly.

He mentally thanked every emergency drill and first aid course he has had over the years of being a teacher* because they were really paying off now in letting him keep his calm and instinctively knowing what to do, letting him manoeuvre easily on autopilot.

*Crowley had always loathed those and had made fun of Aziraphale being diligent and apparently manifesting an inner “prepper”-persona. Ha, Aziraphale will be sure to remind him of this incident right here the next time.

But right now, he had to get Crowley out of here. Out and somewhere private. And quiet.

As soon as he was in range he grabbed onto him fiercely with the arm that was not balancing Eve and the way too full bag.

“Crowley, dear!”

He caught Crowley right before he could fall for real.

Aziraphale had been hoping it would already be enough to rip him out of this stupor but no such luck apparently, if the way the other man’s weight sagged against him was any way to go by.

_Oh, fuck._

Aziraphale didn’t usually cuss, but this was definitely not a usual situation and really: Shit, he was kind of truly fucked right now.

“Crowley, honey! Please!”, he tried anyway.

He adjusted his grip on Eve who was doing desperate grabby hands towards her still unreactive father – what a funny way of sleeping, she had never seen him do that – and tried to haul Crowley up with his other arm. He absentmindedly noticed how a woman stepped in to protectively grab onto Crowley’s other shoulder and together they were actually able to drag him out of the turmoil and into the fresh night air.

Aziraphale kept mumbling comforting nonsense to him, trying to keep him anchored. He had absolutely no idea what in heavens name could have prompted this, but it looked like Crowley had a full blown panic attack. So he simply tried to remember what he had learned about those and adapt.

“Crowley, dear, can you hear me?” Aziraphale continued his stream of words. “Listen, it’s me, Crowley! Aziraphale! And we made it, we are outside now. It’s okay, okay?” He fumbled around in both their pockets now, trying to find Crowley’s car keys. Nothing more private and comforting than being in that beloved car of his, right? “And look, Crowley, what a beautiful night it is! The stars are coming out already” Aziraphale barely managed to suppress a relieved squeal when his fingers finally came into contact with the desired keys. Eve actually _did_ squeal out loud when she heard their jingling, though – she loved car driving. Especially with the windows open.

At the sound Crowley’s body went still and stopped seizing for the shortest second possible, but it was still there nonetheless. It was enough for his body to get the first somewhat decent breath through and Aziraphale let out a breath of his own. Okay, good, way to go. It seems to be working and Crowley was bit less likely to actually lose consciousness on them, now they were getting the hyperventilation part under control.

Finally the car door opened for him. He sent a quick prayer that he did not leave any scratches anywhere due to his haste. Then, with a little help from the woman from before again, he settled Crowley comfortably in the backseat before crawling in himself. As soon as the door fell shut with finality and blocked the last bit of noise from outside Aziraphale took a deep breath and a moment to savour the silence and calm down. Because he was, admittedly, scared himself right now. Crowley’s state had given him a right fright. And still was, to be honest. But it really wouldn’t do for two people to panic now, so he concentrated on the task at hand.

Though Crowley seemed to be able to get oxygen again, it was by far not the right amount yet.

Eve made grabby hands again and Aziraphale got an idea. He let the girl crawl over and settle close in her father’s lap. Then he grabbed both of his wrists in a gentle, but still firm grip over his pulse, noting how much ridiculously higher it was than it should be.

“There, there, Crowley! You feel that, my dear? Here we are, Crowley.”

He started to alternatively tighten and losen his hold around the other man’s wrists trying for a steady rhythm a normal and healthy heart rate would be.

“That’s it, my dear! Crowley? Listen to me, boy. You are doing so good!”

He forced himself to speak pronounced slowly and calmly, doing everything to match the slowing rhythm.

“That’s it. Come on, my dear, can you match my breathing again, Crowley? Like you did before? You did so good, my dear! It’s me, your angel!”

He was honestly just grasping at straws here, but he had read somewhere once that familiar or special key words could work as an anchor for a person in a situation like this. So he was trying to think of anything he could throw out to Crowley for him to cling on to so Aziraphale could pull him back to shallow waters again. And well, there personal nicknames for each other were as good a try as it gets, he guessed.

Meanwhile sweet little naïve Eve must think this was a new game. She watched Aziraphale’s movements mesmerized, her little hands unconsciously mirroring them and clutching repeatedly into her father’s shirt over his chest.

Then she squealed again and wiggled excitedly in her father’s lap before she suddenly threw up her hands right into Crowley’s face to get his attention so she could show him what she learned.

Aziraphale gasped, but it happened so fast he couldn’t intervene and before he knew it, Crowley’s head rolled forward.

For a terrifying moment he thought Crowley would fall over, uncomfortably squashing Eve on the way, but it didn’t happen. Crowley’s face simply settled in the small crook between Eve’s neck and shoulder.

Another agonizing moment passed – that were probably only a few milliseconds – in which Aziraphale didn’t dare to move at all but then –

Crowley began to take deep measuring breaths.

This time Aziraphale was not able to hold his sound of relief back.

He also noted with pleasure that Crowley’s heart rate was returning to a distinctively heathier rate and starting to slow down. It still wasn’t at rest by far, but it was definitely within range.

A choked up chuckle escaped him.

“There you are, my dear.”

He stroked over Crowley’s arms again and the other laced their fingers together. He grabbed on to Aziraphale and fumblingly tried to get him closer as well. So Aziraphale simply put his arms around him to hug him properly, little Eve between them, who was enjoying this new cocoon immensely, nearly stabbing Aziraphale with a finger in the eye and pulling at Crowley’s hair, all the while gurgling happily.

In that position, they lingered for a while. Aziraphale repeated his rhythmic tightening, now in a full body hug, and continued to sprout pointless, yet comforting words.

“Thank you”, Crowley finally mumbled into his daughter’s hair.

And finally, Aziraphale could breathe easily again, too.

"No need to thank me, my dearest."

<0>

The first thing he noticed when he came to was –  
Or no… Had he even been really unconscious?  
He just remembers darkness. Everything being foggy and clotty, like he was moving in jelly. And just darkness.  
But then there was that sound. It had rung something within him- and he didn’t mean the blaring sound of the ringing in his ears that had been going on for forever now.

No it was a… a _bright_ sound. Sudden and short, but so bright. It was easily cutting through the fog cleared his mind enough to stop the alarm horns and startle his speeding thoughts for a moment.

It was not as dark anymore.

He tensed. Braced himself. Waited for the sound to ring again. He tried concentrating on it. Getting further away from this murky headspace. Anywhere else but here. Anything better than this.

And then he could muzzily make out other sounds as well. Sounds he also seemed to recognise, that resonated somewhere deep within him, but he still couldn’t place for the life of him.

He leaned into it, feeling warmth filling his cold ass bones.  
The voices – or what he decided must be voices – still sounded from so incredibly far away but he clung to it.  
Feeling was returning to his senses slowly and with it the sensation of the sleek but soft material he was now sitting on. It was under him, behind him. It was worn but _oh so comforting_.

Next was the smell.

This one hit him so suddenly and was so piercing it startled his scattered mind into yet another short-circuit that finally allowed a restart.

It was the smell of talcum, of beeswax, of old books and earth.

It revoked pictures to flash colourfully before his closed eyes. Pictures of his daughter, his Bentley, Aziraphale and home.  
They were blurry at first, but they grew into focus and they just kept coming and by the next time he twitched because of a particularly bright one, he surprisingly realized he could actually move again.

So he just followed the scent, buried his nose in his daughter’s hair and inhaled deeply.

And ooooh – so _that_ was possible as well again?  
And then Aziraphale was there, had been the whole time, really, and _oh god, yes, please!_

He took his time to ravel in this.

Surrounding himself with everything that mattered to him. Soaking it all up until his breathing was finally back to somewhat normal and his chest didn’t weight a thousand tons anymore.

Aziraphale leaned back to look Crowley over properly now, never breaking physical contact.

His friend was back to a heathy skin tone again. His breaths were deep and regular and his eyes were no longer glassed over but clear and focused although they still looked anywhere but at Aziraphale.

They seemed to have made it through.

Crowley was crying, though. The tears had just started to run down his face unprompted some time ago, though he didn’t know why.

Whether they were still out of an after effect of the attack, because of the stress, actual distress or simply out of embarrassment – it was possibly a combination.

Aziraphale raised his hand to cup the other’s cheek and softly stroke.

“You here with us again, my dear?”, he said softly, a small encouraging smile on his lips. Crowley just gave an affirmative sound.

“Did you at least bring back some souvenirs for us? Because you were really far away.”

That finally made Crowley whip his head up and their eyes meet. He blinked wide-eyed, slowly progressing the words in bewilderment.

Then they both started laughing.

They laughed long and carefree, the last tension around and inside of them evaporating.

Then they let themselves fall back into the cushion of Bentley’s backseat, sitting side by side. Cramped in the limit space of the vintage car, but not uncomfortably so. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Eve was sprawled on both their laps now and Crowley let his head fall to the side, resting it on Aziraphale’s shoulder.

He was still unconsciously matching their breaths and inhaling their combined scent. One of his hands gently running over the worn, but well-kept leather of the seat beside him, the other entangled in his daughters still sparse and feathery locks.

He sighted

What has he been so worried about? Had he really been scared because of Aziraphale?

He chuckled to himself again. Ridiculous.

Aziraphale gave Crowley a fond look and put his arm around him, sneakily running his fingers through the other man’s hair.  
Some time, they will eventually have to talk about just what exactly had prompted that strong of reaction. But right now, all Crowley needed was unconditional support, so that was exactly what Aziraphale would give him.

Who knows, maybe it was just the stress and all the recent developments catching up with the poor lad and throwing him for a loop. They all did rather rush into all this and hadn’t really had the time to process any of it now with the added excursion on top of it.

There was absolutely nothing to worry about, Crowley thought in the meantime. They were friends first and foremost. And really, that was enough. Aziraphale was enough.

No matter how he had him, Aziraphale would always be enough by just being Aziraphale.

“We should probably call someone to take us home”, Aziraphale mused then.Crowley hummed.

He was still trembling slightly and in no condition to drive safely. And since Aziraphale actually didn’t have a license… (And to be honest, neither of them wanted to break contact – especially now that Eve fell asleep on them.)

Aziraphale was already running a list of people who would come into question of picking them up like this and well – it was an embarrassingly short list.

So he sheepishly took out his phone to call their TAs and bother them for the thousandth time this week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew, that was a wild ride. What do you think will happen next? Leave your thoughts in the comments!


	8. Breakfasts, Emotional Baths and The Start Of Evil Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Faith and Eligos help their professors (again). Aziraphale gets to know Crowley a bit more. Someone visits the household and Frankie starts her little version of their own personal Doomsday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for waiting! Oh gosh, me and Crouvan got caught up in some things and are still working on the other chapters and we hope this is worth the wait. Please enjoy!

"Eligos! Where are you?" Faith said through the phone, her motorcycle engine's roar can be heard through the phone.

Eligos looked at Frankie, who was glaring at him right now. She would probably strangle him when she finds out this was Faith. So, he tried something he learned from a friend. "Dude! What's up, bro? How's practice? Me and my girlfriend are on a date right now." He said, internally sighing when he saw his girlfriend relax.

"Dude? What the- _oh_. Well, Aziraphale just called. They need help."

"With what?"

"Turns out Mr, Crowley has a full blown panic attack at the Ritz today and they are kind of stranded because neither of them can drive right now." She explained. "Hurry!"

“Shit, we have to go!”, Eligos exclaimed as soon as he got off the phone. “Right now!”

He was already hurriedly grabbing his stuff when a sharp “WHAT?” interrupted him.

Eli turned to look at his girlfriend. He could already see the steam shooting out of her ears again, her eyes on fire.

“Are you serious?” 

He grabbed her hands and kissed her apologetically.

“I’m really sorry I have to cut it short like this, I swear, I’ll make it up to you! You know, I do!”, he pleaded. And really, he always did! He always kept his promises. And he was always trying especially hard with Frankie – mostly because she wouldn’t have anything less.

“But now, quick! You really have to drive me to the Ritz." he laughed half-heartedly. “Please, Franks!”, he added with his best puppy-eyes. At least he hoped so.

“To the Ritz? What, got a date?”, Frankie snapped. “Not like you already are on one.”

“Frankie please don’t make a bigger problem of this, than it is. We’ve been together the whole day today and it was actually really great. I would have needed to go in an hour anyway”, Eligos tried to reason while he pointedly headed for the door, hoping Frankie would simply follow him because she couldn’t let him win like this. 

Oh no, she would not let him get off like this. She stormed outside after him.

Yep, he knew his girl, ok. He smiled to himself, while he waited next to her car.

“You never took _me_ to the Ritz”, the not so cheery cheerleader threw at him furiously. It might have been actual flames coming out of her mouth.

Eli discreetly rolled his eyes at her antics.

“I am not taking anyone now either, I just have to pick someone up, who is not able to drive himself anymore”, he explained. “And heeeeeey, honey”, the boy drawled out flirtatiously, carefully sneaking close to her again. “If it helps my case, you can go in and order whatever you want after you drop me off, okay? On my treat. Maybe one of those ridiculously fancy and unnecessary drinks you like so much, that is served in shamelessly small glasses and which name I’m always forgetting because it’s just as ridiculous and unnecessary? You can even invite one of your girlfriends okay?”

Frankie looked at him contemplatingly, still trying to glare daggers, but he knew he had her now. 

She loved to order those incredibly expensive drinks and spent the whole night looking down at other people’s choices judgingly. Eligos would never even remotely encourage something like this, but he was getting kinda desperate. It was getting increasingly harder and harder lately to please his girlfriend. No matter what he did it was never enough anymore and most of the time, it was even offending her. But now he really needed her to do him a favour, so he was out of choices.

“Alright”, Frankie gave in (though she would never call it that). “Your treat. No matter how long the bill gets.”

And with that, Frankie snapped the keys from him and got in the car.

Eligos already regretted the deal.

Frankie regretted the deal as soon they arrived in front of the hotel.

Because when they got there, that dirty weasel of a teacher’s pet was already there.

“Didn’t you say it was not a date?”, she spat at once.  
Eligos spluttered. “Eh… What?”

“Why is _she_ here?”, Frankie pointed out.

“Why – why would that be a date?”, Eli retorted, trying to quench the traitorous little quiver his stomach did at the though. Huh? "She is Aziraphale's TA and kinda close friend. Of course she wound be there."

Frankie rolled her eyes. Geez, if she had known, this was one of those damn TA things again, she wouldn’t have agreed.

Not even if Eli would have bought her the whole Ritz.

But Eli didn’t seem to catch on to her fury. He just smiled brightly and leaned over to kiss her gently.

“Bye, honey, and thank you so much for this!”, he gushed and hugged her, although she made no effort to return the gesture. “Enjoy you night, okay? I love you!”

And with that, he was off, throwing the door closed and rushing to greet that vermin who was standing beside a hideous motorbike nonetheless. Is she even permitted to own that?

Frankie gagged. Her knuckles turned white with how tight her hands were around the steering wheel.

She couldn’t believe it. There they were, finally having a proper date day. She has had Eli all to herself, like it should be.

Only for it to be ruined by that freaking pair of weirdo professors and that even weirder little nerd. Again. For the uncountable time this week.

Speaking of the professors, there they were. They were now all getting into that wreck of a car. Eli on the driver’s side, driving them off to god knows where and doing god knows what.

Oh yes, she _will_ make Eligos pay for this.

But before she could contemplate who of her girlfriends had the most expensive taste or if she should just invite all of them, she noticed a woman who had lingered suspiciously close the whole time and now looked longingly after the very same car Frankie had been ogling a moment ago. The car her boyfriend and his zoo drove off in.

She squinted her eyes questioningly. Wondering if she knew her and what she had to do with any of this. And most importantly, was she possibly yet another threat to her boyfriend?

Her face did seem familiar somehow, but…

And then it clicked.

She had seen that face fairly recently.

Specifically while she had done research for some dirt on a certain professor.

Oooooh, this night had taken a sudden turn in her favour, Frankie decided.

This had to be a sign.

Now more determined than ever to get her plan of sweet revenge into motion, she got out of the car herself and acted as if in a hurry, bumping into the woman not so coincidentally.

“Oh, geez, I’m sorry, I was in such a hurry”, she apologized mockingly. “But it seems, I am already too late anyway. Did you see someone drive of in a… vintage car by any chance?”  
The woman looked at her with wide eyes. They were sparkling with something akin to hope and Frankie cheered internally. She was hooked.

“You know Crowley?”, the woman asked breathily.

“Why yes, of course, I’m his TA after all”, Frankie proclaimed. The woman’s eyes got even wider if possible. “He called me and a few friends to help him out, but I guess, they got here before me.”

The woman nodded, she was opening her mouth to say something, but Frankie beat her to it.

“Oh my, wait! You were that substitute a while back, weren’t you! Mr. Crowley didn’t shut up about you”, she gushed.  
The woman could only nod in surprise again. “He… He talked about me?”

“Oh yes, and I’d know, with how close I have to work together with him all the time”, Frankie winked at her chummily and put on a dreamy smile, before she leaned in conspiratorially and whispered: “And by the way, if it’s not to presumptuous, am I right to assume that you are the mother of our sweet little Eve?”

Lilith O’Brian’s eyes glassed over slightly now. She let out a soft gasp and then worried her lips between her teeth for a moment.

“Since you missed your friends, you don’t happen to have a bit of time for drink and a talk?” she asked, involuntarily saying exactly what Frankie had anticipated all along.  
Like she said, she had her hooked.

Her victorious smile now, was not an act anymore.

<0>

Eligos threw the door open, stepping inside with a sleepy Eve in his arms. Faith and the baby bag followed soon after and then finally, a slightly shaking Crowley and a worried Aziraphale. 

Closing the door behind them, Aziraphale let out a tired sigh.  
This day has not gone according to plan. Everything was going so well- what could've shook Crowley so bad that it made him go through a full blown panic attack? He then looked at the TAs, the oh so reliable students (bless them) who were looking quite tired too.

"Thank you." Crowley spoke up, voice wavering a bit. Eligos and Faith looked up from Eve. "You both have done so much for us this past few days. We don't know how to repay you. _I_ don't know how to repay you all."

Eligos chuckled. "Nah, no need for any of that. We're just glad you're okay- we're glad that _all of you_ are okay."

"Yeah. And what are friends for, right professors?" Faith smiled, giving them a playful wink. "Besides, what would we both do without you two? You're the only professors I get along with- unlike Eligos here, I cannot just smile and make the others swoon."

Eligos playfully pushed the redhead with a protesting "Hey!", making the older men chuckle. After a while, Eligos handed Eve back to the father(s) and stood up, pocketing his hands. "Well, it's getting late. We best get on the road. Don't want to be a nuisance to you both."

"Okay, look" Crowley sniffed. "You covered for us both when we got in late, helped us prepare for the excursion, helped us babysit Eve and listened to us rant when we have problems, and you call yourselves a nuisance? I think it's the other way around, to be honest." 

"And didn't you use the Bentley to drive us here? How are you supposed to get home?" Aziraphale asked. Eligos froze, cursing under his breath. Dammit! He forgot that he let Frankie use the impala. 

"Why don't you stay here? We have a spare guest room upstairs. You both can share it."

"S-share?" Eligos stuttered. "Share the room? Share the one bed?"

"It's spacious. Enough room for you both." Aziraphale nodded. "Or if you prefer, one can sleep here in the couch and- Crowley?" Aziraphale trailed off when the other man passed Eve to him and stood up, walking towards the stairs.

"Don't mind me. Just gonna clean myself up." He waved off, going up the stairs. "Feel free to eat the food in the fridge and all that. Ciao." 

When they hear a door closing, Faith sighed. "We don't really want to be a burden. I mean-"

"Oh, please dear. I insist." Aziraphale tutted. "I don't want you both getting hurt. It is very dark out. Now you both go get some rest while I-"

"Uh uh." It was Faith who tutted this time, taking baby Eve carefully. "We'll get Eve settled in. It's the least we can do. You go and check on Crowley."

<0>

"Crowley?" Aziraphale called out, reaching the last step of the stairs. He looked down the hallway, noticing one door ajar. Slowly approaching the door, he knocked before entering: "Crowley? Are you in there?"

"Come in, Angel." a voiced muttered. 

Upon entering, he was greeted by the sight of his friend, neck deep in bubbly water, leaning against the wall of the tub. The room was only lit by three candles, giving him a warm glow. His golden eyes turned to look at blue ones. "Hey."

"A bubble bath? My my, never took you for someone who indulges in one." Aziraphale chuckled, silently asking if it was okay to approach him. Crowley nodded. 

So, Aziraphale cautiously took some steps forward, sitting beside the bathtub*. They enjoyed each other's presence for a good half hour, basking in each other's comforting aura. It was Aziraphale who broke the silence first.

*this may be weird to anyone (or everyone) else, but they both aren't anybody else. If the other needs the other, they will go to them and give comfort, wherever that may be.

"Do you want to talk about it, dear?"

Crowley sunk in deeper in the bubble bath. 

Aziraphale nodded. "Another time the-"

"I saw Lilith." Crowley said, earning a surprised gasp from Aziraphale.

_"What?"_

Crowley pushed himself up to a better sitting position, still staring at the opposite wall as if it held the answer to ever question in life. "I saw her on the way to the restroom. I-she's still as pretty as I remember." he said with a sad smile, looking down. 

Aziraphale's heart lurched painfully, seeing the hurt return in Crowley's features. "You know, she was the first person I ever fell in love with. The very first person I gave my heart too. When I first met her, it was like something instantly clicked, like I found the missing piece. She had everything- looks, smarts, heart of gold- everything! She was the first to make me feel that I was worth loving, despite my flaws. She made me feel that I don't need to put up a suave charade to be liked, that I don't need to meet everyone's expectations to be happy. She made me feel I was- that I wasn't nothing." 

Crowley sniffed, making Aziraphale look up and see his tears trailing down his cheeks. "Oh, Crowley..."

"It was all going so great. We were happy. She never let her parents stop her from loving me- hell, she even fought for me." He choked out, sniffing. "Did you know, that the day we broke up, was the day I was going to propose to her? I cooked her favorite meal, lit candles and even made a rose petal path. She never came home. She left with no explanation."

Crowley snorted pathetically at himself. "I'm an idiot to think that someone would love me that much. Did you know how much it hurt? Aziraphale? How it feels to have your heart ripped apart and left there to bleed out?! How it feels to give your everything, only to be left with nothing?!" Crowley half shouted, crying. "I gave it my all! Am I that too much of a fuck up?! Am I that too much of a failure that everyone I love keeps leaving me?!" 

"And you came in my life, Angel. Became my friend and supported me through everything. You helped me become a better person, a good father. You made me feel what Lilith made me feel before. And do you know how scary that is? Do you know how scary it is to know that you might leave me any second? Do you know how...how..." 

_do you know how much I love you?_

Crowley broke down, tears freely falling down his face. Aziraphale, who was also crying, reached out and grabbed the other, hugging him fiercely and not caring if he'll get wet. Crowley clung on, savouring this moment while it lasted. He clung on him like a lifeline and just cried. 

"I don't wanna loose you too, Angel." Crowley choked out. "I just might be a favour you need to repay for all I know."

Aziraphale sniffed, tears also falling down freely and heart painfully tightening. A favour? Anthony J Crowley thinks he is just staying with him because of a _favour?_. Oh no. This won't do. Not in the slightest. 

"Crowley, Honey, look at me." Aziraphale said, gently pushing Crowley away from him to meet his eyes. He then cupped his face in his hands, wiping the tears away with his thumbs. "I am not staying here because of a silly favour I owe you. I am not staying here just because of Eve. I am staying here because _you're my best friend_. You are a big part of my life right now, you and Eve. And don't you dare doubt how much you mean to me. The people who left you? It wasn't your fault. It's theirs. Why? Because they never got the chance to know the real you, the real Anthony Crowley. The loving father. The greatest friend. The hardworking professor. You, my dear, are so much more than a favour. _You_ are not a screw up. The people who left you and didn't believe in you don't deserve you or your tears. You deserve better. You are worth loving and fighting for, okay? You are worth everything. And I..."

_I love you. I love you so much it hurts me sometimes_

"I will never, _ever_ leave you. Not now, not in our next lives and not in the next. I will always stay by your side, even if Heaven and Hell themselves are trying to separate us. And you would never loose me. Never."

<0>

Faith and Eligos tiptoed out of the baby's room, silently closing the door behind them. They then went downstairs to collapse on the couch, sighing. 

"Who knew putting babies to sleep can be a bit of a challenge?" Faith said, leaning back on the couch. Eligos chuckled, running a hand through his hair.

"The more we know!" he said. "Anyways, you go ahead and get ready for bed. I'll sleep here on the couch."

"Are you sure?" Faith said, tilting her head to the side to look at the jock. "I mean, we could share the bed. Aziraphale said there's enough room for us both. Just stack up pillows in the middle to make a divide. Easy."

"I, uh, don't want to make you uncomfortable or anything."

Faith scoffed. "It's not like your gonna kill me or anything! I'm okay with sharing the bed."

"If you say so. Thank you." Eligos shrugged, slightly nervous. And no, it's not because he is uncomfortable with sharing the bed, its just that Frankie has this really creepy way of knowing things. And if she found out about it, Frankie would and could kill him, especially since Frankie could misinterpret the action. However, he's too tired to protest.

"Now, where can I get spare clothes?" She muttered, standing and stretching out. Eligos thought for a second before grabbing the backpack he brought along and brought out an AC/DC shirt, offering it to Faith. 

She took it hesitantly, feeling the soft material in her hands.  
"Thank you."

"No problem. Now go get yourself cleaned up." He smiled, ruffling her hair up before jogging up the stairs. Faith was left at the living room, alone, smiling at the kind hearted gesture.

"Goddammit, Eli." She muttered, quietly enough that only she can hear it. "How am I supposed to not fall for you and that kind heart of yours?"

<0>

_beep-beep-beep_

Crowley groaned annoyingly, slightly peeking out of the blanket he covered himself with. He reached out and tried to find the alarm clock. Finally finding the square bastard, he yanked it off the table and promptly threw it across the room.

"Burn in hell." He muttered at the alarm clock, turning to his side and snuggling closer into his cozy, warm pillow. Which was moving. And has hands. And a heartbeat.

This isn't a pillow, isn't it?

Opening one eye, he came face to face with a sleeping Aziraphale, his forehead touching his, arms and legs tangled together. It was nice, actually. He felt safe, secure, _loved_.

And of course, the universe is just a major asshole. He decided that this moment would be a perfect time to have his morning wood. Splendid job, universe.

So, to avoid embarrassment and to avoid feeling the other's....case, he did the most logical thing. He pushed Aziraphale off the bed, earning a yelp followed by a pained groan.

"Goodmorning to you too." He grumpily said, grabbing the bed to haul himself up. "You could just wake me up like a normal person, Crowley. No need to make me fall." 

"Uh, sorry." Crowley sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Uh, I just didn't expect you to be here. I don't even remember getting to bed."

"Well, after you had that bubble bath and um, _talking_ to me, You passed out." Aziraphale started, sitting down on the bed once again. Crowley winced. "I think it's because of what happened at the Ritz and you were just physically drained from taking care of Eve, so I just hauled you out of that bath, dried you up and dressed you and put you to bed. I was about to leave when you just grabbed my wrist and asked me to stay."

"Really? Oh shit." Crowley said, burying his blushing face on a pillow. How did he not remember this?! "Did you see me naked?"

Aziraphale cleared his throat, sitting up straighter and looking away. "A..bit."

Crowley groaned in embarrassment. Aziraphale chuckled, patting the other's knee. "It's alright, really."

Crowley looked up, giving Aziraphale a thankful smile. "Thanks for sticking with me, Angel."

A knock on the door interrupted the two. It opened slightly as Faith peeked inside. "uh, goodmorning professors. Breakfast is ready, so if you want to-"

"You cooked breakfast?!" Crowley and Aziraphale said at the same time, both surprised. Wow, they really got lucky with their TAs. 

"Uh, Eligos did. I just came up to call you two." She smiled, yawning a bit. "Now come on! The food and your daughter are waiting for you!"

<0>

"Darling!" Faith called out, rushing down the stairs. Aziraphale and Crowley shared a confused look, wondering who the heck was the "Darling" she was pertaining about. The only other people in this house was Eve and Eligos. Unless...

"In here, Cherub!" Eligos answered, already plating the bacon and eggs. He waved at the professors as soon as he saw them. "There they are! Morning!"

"Goodmorning." Aziraphale greeted back with a smile. Eve giggled at the sight of Aziraphale and Crowley, immediately squirming around and making grabby hands for her dads. Aziraphale gladly lifted Eve up from the baby chair and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "And Goodmorning to you too, little one."

"Would you look at that. Already stealing my daughter from me." Crowley approached, clutching his chest as he feigned hurt. "I can't believe my own best friend had done this to me."

Aziraphale rolled his eyes fondly, handing Eve to her father.

"Ah! Come to Papa!" Crowley laughed, kissing the top of Eve's head. "Goodmorning my little apple."

Faith silently stopped recording and pocketed her phone, chuckling. "Alright, everyone. Food's getting cold."

"Thank you so much." Aziraphale said, sitting down. "You really didn't need to do this."

"Come on, we're a family! That's what we do." Eligos smiled, handing them all their coffee and tea while Faith gave Eve her formula. "Dig in!"

And so, the little family continued to have their breakfast like that- teasing, talking about anything under the sun, asked how the excursions and schoolwork were going and just had a good time.

And for the first time and a long while, Crowley finally felt like everything would be fine. As he watched this little, silly family they accidentally found and formed, he truly was happy. He felt truly, _finally_ , at home.

"So," he spoke up, finishing what was left of his breakfast. He leaned forward, looking at their TAs. "Cherub and Darling, huh?"

Faith promptly choked on her coffee while Eligos reddened. Crowley grinned devilishly while Aziraphale chuckled.

"My, my. I thought you already have a girlfriend, Mr. Forshaw." Aziraphale teased, setting his fork down.

"He's not my boyfriend-""She's not my girlfriend-" they both said at the same time. Eligos cleared his throat and tried to properly explain things to the amused professors. 

"No, really. It's an inside joke. We were talking one day and we noticed how you both call each other "Angel" and "Dear" and we also noticed how many similarities we had with you both so we just decided to call each other a variation of your pet names for the heck of it." 

"And besides, if you both could platonically call each other those, then I think we both can too." Faith said, recovering from the cough. "It is platonic, right?"

"Oh, why yes, of course." Aziraphale laughed nervously.

"Yeah, yeah. What would it be else?" Crowley added, looking anywhere but Aziraphale.

Eligos and Faith shared a knowing look before being interrupted by a loud, knocking sound. Faith stood up and excuse herself to go fetch the door. When she opened the door, the sight that greeted her was really, _something_ unexpected.

A woman is dressed in a black suit and long skirt, wearing a hat to match the outfit. She also carried with her an umbrella, it's handle a green, carved snake and her eyes are covered by dark spectacles. The longer Faith stares, the more her brain supplies that the woman looks like Mary Poppins. The man beside him is wearing a blue tie, a beige sweater and slacks, short blond hair a mess and sideburns game going strong.

"Bridgets! What's taking you so- oh." Eligos said, stopping in his tracks as soon as he saw the persons outside the door. "Let me guess. Crowley's relatives?"

"Why yes! And who are you both?" The woman said, raising an eyebrow. "Are you the nannies of sweet little Eve?"

Faith blinked. "Yes, we are both her nannies, I guess."

"Great!" The man said, talking their hands and shaking them vigorously. "I'm Brother Francis. This one here is my wife, Ashtoreth Crowley."

"Pleasure." She said, also shaking their hands. "Is Anthony present?"

"Faith? Eli? What are you-" Crowley appeared, gasping at who he saw. "Aunty? Uncle?" 

"Glad you could still recognize us, boy!" Francis laughed, entering and giving Crowley a welcoming hug. Next came in Ashtoreth, who kissed Crowley's left cheek before pulling him into a warm hug.

"Oh, how you have grown into such a fine man, Anthony." Ashtoreth stepped back, observing him. "It has been so long!"

"I'm glad to see you both too." Crowley chuckled, running a hand through his hair. "What made you come here, anyways?"

"Your mother wouldn't shut up about her grandchild. And since she can't come here herself, She sent me to check up on sweet little Eve." She said. Crowley's eyes scrunched up.

"Why can't they go here?"

"Have you forgotten? It's their anniversary a few days ago. They claim to be "rekindling the old flame" at Venice as we speak. And it'll last for about two weeks or so." Ashtoreth grimaced, gagging. "I honestly don't want to talk about it. Your mother tends to share too much information that can traumatize even the coldest of hearts."

Crowley rolled his eyes. Since he was a kid, his parents tend to do the same; travel across the world and meet new business partners. Yes, they've provided him with things others wish they could have, but Crowley's younger self craved their presence more than materials. Good thing Ashtoreth and Francis were there with him the whole time. 

A loud, happy squeel pierced through the house, followed by an older man's laughter. Ashtoreth and Francis raised an eyebrow, looking at Crowley knowingly.

"Yep, the loud squeel was her. Come on, time to meet your godchild." Crowley said, gesturing at them to follow him. As the trio left to go to the kitchen, Faith and Eli stood by the doorway, still a bit confused. 

"Is it me, or Mrs. Ashtoreth looks like Crowley in drag?" Eli whispered, earning a snort and a jab in the ribs from Faith.

"Hush. The true question here is why does Francis give of Aziraphale vibes? Slap some sideburns and thicker eyebrows on our professor and he could pass off as the other man, honestly."

<0>

Ashtoreth looked around the house, humming in approval when she sees almost everything baby-proofed, silently chuckling when she saw a part of the living room was seemingly turned into a playing area. And something in particular was missing.

"Where are the houseplants, Anthony?" 

"I temporarily moved them to the school's greenhouse. I'll get them back when Eve's old enough to know that eating dirt is bad." Crowley answered with ease, making Francis and her share a look. As far as they know, Crowley can get pretty attached to his plants. Seeing him parting with the green beauties of nature is proves just how much he is willing to sacrifice to make sure Eve is safe.

 _I knew you were going to be a great father._ Ashtoreth thought with a smile. 

Finally, they reached the kitchen where they were greeted by the sight of a blond man playing with Eve, seemingly manipulating stuffed toys and telling a story. Crowley smiled slightly, clearing his throat to get the man's attention.

"Angel, we have guests." Crowley patted the other's shoulder and grabbed Eve from her chair, settling her in his hip. The man stood up, giving them a polite wave. "Eve, Aziraphale, meet my Aunty Ashtoreth and Uncle Francis. Aunt, Uncle, meet Aziraphale Fell and Eve Cadeau Crowley."

"Awww, she is so beautiful." Ashtoreth cooed as Crowley passed his daughter to her. To their delight and wonder, instead of crying, Eve just looked up curiously, silently wondering why the strangers looked like her dads.

Aziraphale may have thought about the same thing, judging by his confused expression. Aziraphale was a bit surprised at how his and Francis' clothing choices were almost the same; from the tie to the blond hair. 

Ashtoreth, who saw how confused Aziraphale is, gave Eve to Francis, approaching the Literacy professor to give him a pat on the shoulder. "What seems to be the problem, Mr. Fell."

"Oh, nothing's the matter miss." Aziraphale answered, clearing his throat and giving her a pleasant smile. "I just can't help but notice how me and your..."

"Husband."

"Yes, your husband seem to look a bit, um..."

"Alike?" Ashtoreth supplied helpfully. "Well, let's just say we Crowleys tend to have a specific type." she whispered with a wink.

Before he could question what that meant, Eligos cleared his throat. "Uh yeah, hi. Um, me and Faith need to go now."

"Oh yes, of course." Aziraphale tutted, shooing them towards the door. "I'll show them the way out, dear. You go ahead and entertain the guests."

When the three left, Francis spoke up. "So, how long have you two been together?"

"What?!" 

"You know, together as in together? Married? Together?"

"Uncle, we're _friends_." 

"Really?!" Ashtoreth said in disbelief, eyebrows raised. Francis looked up from the baby, giving Crowley an _are you kidding me_ look.

"Yeah! What else could we be?!" 

"A lot of thing, my boy." Francis said, sharing a knowing look with her wife. "You would see if you open your eyes and heart a bit more."

<0>

Frankie stepped back and waited after she rang the doorbell, nearly trembling with excitement.

She and Lilith have had a nice (and expensive) drink and a chat that night at the Ritz (payed by her boyfriend who was non-the-wiser, of course).

The woman she had desired to get her hands on (ever since Frankie had found out about her scandalous relations to the history professor) had been quite shaken and very thirsty for anything Frankie was selling her about Mr. Crowley and that abomination of a daughter.

So it was easy as child’s play for the scheming cheerleader to charm and manipulate the involuntary mother into liking and trusting her – enough so, that Lilith invited Frankie over to her house for a proper talk some time, under the disguise of exchanging information about Mr. Crowley to better insure the care for little Eve. 

Of course, Frankie didn’t plan to use the (possibly very personal and juicy) information she was promising herself to get today in a helpful way. Oh no, not at all. But it will definitely be _useful_.

She quickly schooled her features and turned her menacing grin into the honey sweet, everybody’s darling smile she had crafted and mastered so perfectly over the years before the door opened and Lilith greeted her, still a bit hesitant but warmly.

And when she stepped over the threshold she took a second to mentally pat herself on the shoulder.

So far, everything was going according to plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What is Frankie up to again? Did you like Ashtoreth and Francis? Any questions about the authors and the story? Comment down below!


	9. The Start of Something Good (and bad, unfortunately)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crowley and Aziraphale start to shed a little light on their feelings they've been denying. Frankie starts her terrible plan. Faith and Eli pull a Crowley and Aziraphale and deny their feelings like the plague. We get to meet the woman herself, the mother of Eve, Lilith O'Brian.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter nine! And we have seen all the comments and wanted to thank every single reader for taking your time to read our little fic! Thank you! Anyways, enjoy this chapter!

"Are you sure you want to watch over Eve?" Crowley asked, hesitantly giving Ashtoreth Eve's baby bag and Eve herself. The woman chuckled, affectionately patting Crowley's cheek. 

"Anthony, I've been a nanny to a lot of children and took care of you for how many years. I'm pretty sure I can handle Eve."

"Besides, take the night off! Spend some time with your _friend_! Go out somewhere! God knows you both need a good night's sleep." Francis suggested, giving them both a pat on the shoulder. "We best be going, lads. You both have a good time yeah?"

"Will do, Mr. Francis. Thank you." Aziraphale said, giving him a polite wave and smile. 

"It is so nice meeting you, Aziraphale. Thank you for being there for Anthony." Ashtoreth smiled. He leaned towards Crowley, whispering something in his ear:

"You have a keeper, Crowley. Don't let this one go; he's the angel that's watching over you." she said with a wink. Stepping back and clearing her throat, she looked at Eve. "Say goodbye to them, darling."

Eve, who seemingly understood what her godmother told her, giggled and gestured wildly, waving her hands and blabbering. Crowley chuckled, running a finger over her cheek. 

"Behave yourself over there, my little apple. You're in good hands." he whispered, kissing her forehead. Aziraphale grabbed one of her hands and shook them as if they were doing a handshake.

"Be good to Ashtoreth and Francis, alright young lady? Your dad and I will miss you terribly, even if it is just for a night." Aziraphale said, kissing the top of Eve's head and slightly tickling her side, making the girl erupt in giggles. 

"Take care, you two. We'll be visiting you both again soon." With a nod, she bid them goodbye, letting her husband close the door.

Crowley sighed, finding the silence in his house a bit unnerving. He was so used to the sounds of Eve playing or laughing and the TV playing a cartoon her daughter found amusing. 

"Well, I better be going then too." Aziraphale spoke up after a few moments of silence. "I'm sure you need some rest and all that. The past few days have been quite tiring."

Crowley blinked, surprised at what heard. Of course! He doesn't actually live here! How could he forget such a thing? He just stayed a few nights to help the both of them settle in, but he still has his own home. Crowley rolled his eyes at himself, heart protesting at the thought of being left alone in this empty house- again. "Yeah, I think you need some rest too. Want me to drive you there?"

"Oh, no need, my dear. I can get a cab." Aziraphale said, looking around. "Uh, see you then."

"See you around, Angel." Crowley muttered, expecting Aziraphale to be out the door already. But to his surprise, his colleague was still standing in front of him, eyes cast down. No one wanted to leave.

And it truly surprises Crowley how loyal and kind Aziraphale has been to him throughout all their years of friendship. Even though he acted like a little shit, Aziraphale would just roll his eyes fondly and stubbornly stick with him. He wasn't used to this. But damn, does it feel nice; to know someone is there for you. Someone who could proudly call themselves your friend.

_what else could we be?_

_a lot of things. You would see if you open your eyes and heart a bit more._

Crowley bit the inside of his cheek, looking anywhere but Aziraphale. His palms are getting sweaty and his heart was racing--He's a grown ass man, dammit. Why is he so nervous about this? _What_ is he so nervous about anyway? 

_You know what you're nervous about, Anthony. You are just stubbornly denying it._ A voice that suspiciously sounds like his aunty said in his head. _Just ask him out. Go on, the world wouldn't end._

"Angel--" "--My dear--" They both started at the same time, making them both laugh.

"We really need to stop doing that." He chuckled slightly. 

"You go first, my dear." Aziraphale gave him an encouraging smile. Crowley nodded, clearing his throat and faced him fully, placing his hands on the other's shoulders. 

"Okay, here it goes." He took in a deep breath. "Aziraphale  
Fell?"

"Yes?"

Crowley tried to say the words, only to find the words getting stuck on his throat. Nervousness washed over him like a tidal wave, getting more anxious as seconds pass by. Aziraphale started to look concerned, grabbing one of the hands he placed on his shoulder and squeezing them gently. 

"Crowley? Are you alright?"

"wouldyouliketogoonadatewithme?" He blurted out.

Aziraphale froze, eyes widening and mouth agape. "I-i beg your pardon?"

"Would you like.....to go on a date......with me?" He repeated more slowly, gulping nervously and steeling himself for rejection. When Aziraphale didn't answer right away, Crowley panicked. "I mean, it's okay if you don't want to go! I totally understand--I know that you still have your own private life and work to do but I just thought that I wanted to give you a little thank you gift for all the-"

"Anthony." Aziraphale laughed slightly, smiling brighter than before. Crowley scrunched his nose up at the name- he hated being called Anthony - but when it comes from Aziraphale, it sounds right- endearing even. "I would love to go on a date with you."

Crowley gaped, feeling excitement and relief bubbling up in his chest. "Really?!"

"Yes, really." He laughed. "where are we dining, then?"

Crowley should've thought things through. "Uh, where do you want to eat?"

"I know a great sushi restaurant. Perhaps we could try some sushi?"

"Sounds great." Crowley smiled. 

"I'm looking forward to it." Aziraphale hummed. In a sudden rush of bravery and split second decision, the blond man kissed Crowley's forehead, lingering for a second longer. When he pulled away, they were both a lovely shade of red. "Uh, goodbye my dear. See you later."

With another smile, he rushed out of the door, leaving a giddy Crowley behind.

<0>

“Thank you for this, and for helping Crowley with Eve”, Lilith said while leading them to the already laid out coffee table.

“No, thank _you_ ”, Frankie said, discreetly letting her eyes wander, already on the look-out for possible blackmail material. “We were really hoping to talk to you because of some things with Eve”, she lied just as easily as the day they met. “You were the one taking care of her the first few months, so you’d know best, obviously. But we weren’t sure if you’d be willing.”

“I…yeah, I can imagine he must have had a lot of questions”, Lilith said timidly, looking at her hands. “It was rather unplanned, after all.” 

So Eve is an _unwanted_ child, Frankie noted as first point on her mental list. Good start.

Lilith was still looking anywhere but at her guest and busied herself with serving them the tea. She seemed to be ashamed, though Frankie couldn’t understand of what. And quite frankly: She did not care in the least. She was just here for the good stuff and already rolling her eyes mentally.

“I… I do wanted to talk to Crowley too, once everything was sorted but…”, Lilith continued hesitantly.

Unfinished business? Frankie thought. Probably also not an ideal environment for a child. She put it on the list as well.

“I was actually hoping to talk to Crowley when I saw him that night at the Ritz”, the woman continued, finally settling down on the sofa beside Frankie. “But then… How is he, by the way?”, Lilith asked concerned, finally looking at Frankie with deep, dark eyes. “Was he really that drunk or was he just that determined to not to talk to me? Both perhaps?"

Now you see, Lilith did not mean any harm by this. She was honestly concerned for her ex-lover. The last part was actually meant as a partial joke to paint over the fact just how concerned she was (and simply because she was the kind of person to jest over insecurities). But to Frankie hearing this, it was pure gold.

An overwhelmed professor regularly getting shitfaced in public? Not exactly a parental figure. She happily ticked of another point on her list. Wow, this was already going so splendidly. She’s had no idea just how fucked up that weirdo professor really was.

They were really making this easy for her.

“Oh, don’t worry”, Frankie said out loud, sending Lilith a reassuring smile. “He just needed a good old rest. We all took great care of him. We do all the time. I mean, we are a really good team. Little Eve gets spoiled relentlessly and has to wish for nothing.” 

It took Frankie great effort not to actually gag or let her smile slip at that. Oh yes, that little girl _does_ get spoilt. By Frankie’s boyfriend, no less, who _does_ spent all his time around her. Grrrrr.

Lilith nodded, though she still looked concerned. “And her eyes? Are they getting treated?”, she asked.

Interesting. Injury? Disability? Frankie did another triumphant take on her list.

“Yes, by a specialist even”, she lied again. “Crowley made sure of that. It was actually one of the first things he did. So everything will be fine”, she said, though she had no idea what she was talking about. If all goes according to plan, the baby will not be around for much longer, so, who cares?

Yes, she was planning to get rid of a baby. Deal with it.  
She just figured it was that little dirtbag’s fault that her Eli got farther and farther away from her. It all came down to the appearance of that infant. Everything started with Mr. Crowley needing babysitters so Frankie came to the easy conclusion that the baby has to disappear again and everything would be back to normal. Maybe Eligos wouldn’t even be a TA anymore if that history professor decides to leave as well. Even more time for Frankie then. Two wins in one, simple math.

Hence her being here and collecting possible proofs of a certain professor being unfit for fatherhood. And the way things looked, this investigation will actually be a quick one. The authorities are gonna have a field day with this. Though she still needed actual proof and not just this hearsay.

Time to bring out the big guns.

“I am sorry, now I am asking so many question, although you are here so that I can answer yours”, Lilith said sheepishly. “So what is it, I can help you with?”

“Eh”

On second thought, Frankie should probably foster her trust a bit more and led her to safer ground before she brought out the big guns. Lilith O’Brian, despite how easy she was to manipulate in a vulnerable moment, actually looked like a fairly intelligent character. And Frankie could not afford to mess this up.

So she decided to play along for a bit.

“Oh, you know, stuff like what kind of formula does Eve prefer?”, Frankie said casually. “Because we nearly brought a sales person to tears the other day when we wanted to re-stock and couldn’t agree what the better one was.”

Lilith smiled for possibly the first time, some of the tension leaving her shoulders. 

Gotcha, Frankie thought, smiling for real now as well.  
And thus, they leaned back and talked about mundane baby stuff for a while; baby powder or oil, cloth nappies or diapers… and so on.

Frankie wanted to strangle herself after 5 minutes already, but nevertheless, she endured. 

Her determination had always been her strong point, okay. And she was _very_ determined to win this war.

When the first whole pot of tea was long empty and Lilith stood to refill it, Frankie finally saw her chance.

By now, Lilith was lose and felt safe enough around her to laugh freely. All previous hesitation gone. She really seemed to open up to Frankie and with every little completely made up story Frankie told of Eve and Crowley she seemed to _bloom_.

So it was about time. (And whoa, it had been the longest hour of Frankie’s life.)

“Soooo, how did Crowley and you even meet?”, she asked casually, just as Lilith had put the kettle back on.

“Oh that”, Lilith said, waving her hand in dismissal. “We know each other from college actually. So long before we worked together last year.”

Frankie’s nose twitched.

“College?”, she exclaimed like an excited school girl – and she actually felt like one right now. This was promising some dirt indeed. After all, who had not done something regrettably in college? (Her boyfriend, probably. The docile idiot. But psssht.) “That’s so sweet!”

Lilith snorted. “Sure, if you call fumbling awkwardness on both sides sweet”, she laughed.

“Oh my, I cannot imagine”, Frankie sighted. “He’s so _cool_ , he must have been a real deal back in the day!” Gag – Frankie was seriously going to throw up some time today.

Now Lilith laughed for real, though. 

“You should have seen him!”, she winked.

“Do I even want to know?”, Frankie played along.

“Oh trust me, you’re gonna love this”, Lilith nodded. “So you know how he runs around today?”

Frankie nodded frantically.

“Let’s just try he was trying even harder back then”, Lilith said with a fond smile. 

“Oh my god, please tell me you have pictures!”, Frankie shouted. She saw her chance and took it, okay?

This was the perfect opportunity to get the picture proof she needed. Some unfavourable photos – because whose college pics are anything but unfavourable, seriously – and a bit of Photoshop and voila: A man who really couldn’t be trusted with a child.

Lilith, bless her naïve and likable soul, totally bought it.  
“I do, in fact”, she smirked. “Let us take this second round of tea to the attic and I will show you what your Crowley did, when he was your age.”

Fate really was on Frankie’s side.

Oooooh yes, and how it was – because the pictures turned out to be a true treasure trunk. 

There were some pictures of an _actually_ drunk Crowley for once. There were some rare pictures of him with various other flirts before him and Lilith were a thing. And they all had varied genders, too – hello, ambiguous sexuality! Frankie made another point on her list. Unreliable. And of course, there was also a cigarette or two involved here and there.  
And while Lilith plunged into a new story about some other party or mischief while looking through the rest of the trunk, Frankie made sure to copy and capture some of the laid out evidence with her phone, even sneaking a pic here and there.

"Oh, he really was a mess back then." Frankie scrunched up her nose in disgust, sticking her tongue out. Lilith chuckled, not noticing the malicious tone behind Frankie's voice. 

"He was. But Anthony was the sweetest-and based on your stories, he still is." She smiled sadly, a bit nostalgic. "He may not be the coolest, but he had a good heart. Yeah, Crowley _was_ a bit of a troublemaker back then, but that doesn't mean he won't hesitate to help professors who struggled with carrying their stuff or giving students who didn't have cars a ride back home. Crowley can be a lot of things, but a bad person? He isn't. That's why I fell in love with him, he was the first to actually support me with what I really want." 

"Why did you leave him then?" Frankie asked, genuinely curios this time.

Lilith looked down sheepishly. "I discovered _something_ about myself during our time as a couple, and I grew more distant. I didn't want to hurt him, so I just kind of sticked around. But when I couldn't take it anymore, I just ran away. I didn't have the gut to tell him the reason why, so I just hoped that running away without any warning would be less painful. Turns out that I just hurt him even more. I tried to talk to him once, when I went to his house and asked if we could go for a drink. And thinks kind of escalated and well, he knocked me up."

Frankie's eyes went wide. That little brat was a result of a drunken mistake! Oh, she could make up a story of how Crowley was the one who convinced Lilith to get drunk and whatnot. 

"I didn't know what to do so I ran to my parents and gave Eve to them, telling them to give her to Crowley. And I'm thankful that even if they despise him, Mom and Dad still had a heart to give her to him." Lilith sighed. Frankie raised an eyebrow. Her parents hate Crowley, huh? Oh she could use that later.

"Anyway! Enough depressing stuff. Let's get back to the fun stuff." She let out a small laugh, blinking the tears away.

Every now and then she would let out affirmative noises or jump into a story of her own to keep up the pretence, all of them as made up as her Eve-stories, of course, but this Lilith will never know that. So what? Frankie had a vein of gold here and she would suck it dry.

When they were done, the sun was already low.

Lilith felt lighter than she has in a long while. 

So did Frankie, but for whole other reasons. She was already picturing her coronation, because this scheme was going to be her ultimate win. She was sure of that now.

“Thank you for all this”, Lilith said on the way to the door. “I think, I needed this as much as you did.”

“Aww, no problem”, Frankie waved her off. “I’m just glad, I could clear a few things up. And who knows, maybe things between you and Crowley will clear up because of this, too. Either way, you were a great help. Eve will thank you.” Yep, she was help indeed. Nope, Eve will most probably not like the results. Ha.

Lilith played with a strand of her hair self-consciously and shrugged. “Maybe, but for now, I just wish them all the best”, she said. “I’ll probably wait until he wants it on his own terms, after what happened the last time I approached him…”

And so they said their good-byes. But before Frankie could leave for good, Lilith held her back once more.

“Oh, um, by the way: I’m actually gonna be away for a bit, because I’m going on vacation with my… with my new girlfriend. So if anything comes up… or if Crowley decides he does want that talk with me after all, just tell him to contact me, okay?”

“Aw, that’s sweet”, Frankie managed to get out between clenched teeth. It was _really_ hard for her not to bust by now. “And of course, I’ll let him know.”

And thus the door closed.

Frankie very nearly skipped on the way the car.

Lilith was going to be away. 

So the only possible witness who was maybe able to connect Frankie to any of this or knew the truth about all the evidence that was going to be dropped to the authorities soon was going to be away and thus not a problem anymore. Jackpot. She could just search who Lilith's parents are and give them the faux evidence anonymously- she even may make a deal with them. After all, the parents of the substitute teacher (and Lawyer, according to what she had told her) share the same goal of getting rid of that blasted History professor.

Not even in her wildest dreams did Frankie think it would be _this_ easy. She grinned and started the motor.

As soon as the door closed, Lilith O’Brian let herself sack against it and sigh, a little smile on her face.

This meeting had really been a good thing.

She wasn’t sure of course. And she was also a bit scared of how Crowley’s TA would react to her with how close they were and everything. There had been the possibility Frankie would have just taken Crowley’s side out of principle or something, but no, the girl was actually willing to listen and genuinely just wanted some tips for Eve and was only interested in the best of the baby, since she took her new found task of babysitting very seriously.

Lilith smiled. That girl would probably make a good mum some day.

 _Better than you_ Lilith, thought, sighing again. She knows how bad she looks right now, and she would give anything to talk to Crowley and chat with him. She isn't a bad person, she swears.

Yeah, she had really messed up, but she would never regret giving the child to Crowley. She just couldn’t do it, She knew Crowley would be an amazing dad. 

And after what she heard today, she knew it was true.

It was such a relief to listen to Frankie and she finally felt that much more closer to closure herself.

She just hoped Crowley could find it, too, and they could maybe have that talk one day, where Lilith could explain everything.

Who knows, maybe that new man could help him with that, she reminisced, thinking back to the night at the hotel and the gentleman who took care of him and seemed to know exactly what he was. Fell was his last name right? Frankie mentioned his name one time during her stories, she was sure.

Good for him.

And well, Lilith herself had found help in her girlfriend as well. She smiled thinking about her. She had really helped her come to peace with herself and see her ways.

Thinking about her, she should probably call her and tell her the good news, too.

Little did Lilith know, that a few miles away, Frankie Bowers was scrolling through the stolen evidence she collected that day, editing some and photo-shopping others.

An envelope with the address of a Mr. and Mrs. O'Brian already prepared and halfway filled.

Check and mate, losers.

This girl was about to win yet another game.

<0>

After another hectic week, Monday finally came; it was the day they will present the excursion. And to their surprise, they finished earlier than they expected. They had three more weeks to spare! 

Talk about miracles, eh?

"Goodmorning Everyone!" Aziraphale greeted the crowd of students. The students grew quiet and greeted back, a bit surprised to see their History teacher* following closely behind. Crowley ignored all of the knowing stares and small smiles they were giving him. As to why they were giving him those looks, he has no clue why**.

*Some students quietly giggled and some placed bets- after all, the two most _interesting_ (read: shipped) professors are going to teach the today. 

**he may or may not have _an idea_ , but surely he wasn't that obvious, right?

"If you're wondering why we gathered you all here today, well, we have no idea either." Crowley joked, making the students erupt in chuckles. _Still got it_ , he thought, ignoring the way Aziraphale rolled his eyes quite fondly. "Kidding. Me and Mr. Fell here have planned a little excursion, since our lessons overlap a bit. He gets to teach Literature and I get to teach History in one class. Two birds, one stone."

"So for today and the next three days, we would be tackling The Jean-Baptiste Lully Biography and the film and history behind it." Aziraphale announced, making some students groan in suffering and others look around in confusion. "Okay! Before we start, does anyone have any questions?"

Several hands were raised. 

As Aziraphale answered the questions, Crowley was left to set up the PowerPoint. When he finally opened his laptop, he clicked on the folder where he kept his school related files in. He began to slightly panic when he discovered that the thing he was looking for wasn't there.

"Yes, Ms. Batista?"

"Is this included in the finals?" She asked. Aziraphale nodded.

"Of course, we'll dabble on that more later. Anyone else?" Aziraphale said, picking a student in the back. "Mr. Hemerton?"

"Where's Eve?" 

"Oh. Uh, Crowley?" Aziraphale turned to Crowley, who was still internally panicking.

"Uh, what?" Crowley said, looking up for a split second before turning his attention back to the laptop. What file name did he give that presentation again?

"They're asking about where your daughter is. Do you want to answer it, My Dear?" Aziraphale asked quietly.

Crowley groaned, getting a tad bit frustrated in trying to find that blasted PowerPoint. "You go ahead." _You know our daughter's with her Granny today_ , he thought silently. The very audible gasp coming from the people around him may have proved otherwise. 

He froze. Did he just say that out loud? Surely not. Maybe there's another reason why they all gasped in shock. 

".....Our..... daughter?" Aziraphale said, his voice slightly wavering. The students were all watching intently, waiting for Crowley's reply. Ah, shit. He _did_ say it out loud! How the _fuck_ is he suppose to slither past this slip up? Seeing no way through it, he just decided to suck it up and tell the truth.

Well, mostly.

"You see," He stood up and walked towards Aziraphale, slinging an arm around his shoulders. "You've been such a big help with raising Eve lately and technically became a father figure to her, so yeah. _Our daughter_." 

The students gave them wolf whistles and wiggled their eyebrows, teasing mercilessly. Aziraphale merely blushed and looked away while a reddened Crowley tried to shush them.

"Hey! You lot turn your books to page six hundred and sixty-six and start reading about the lesson, Chop Chop!" 

Meanwhile, Faith and Eligos were snickering from their corner, still following the instructions. 

"Oh gosh. Bless their souls. They're getting obvious." Faith shook her head, turning to face Eligos with a small smile, resting her chin on her hand. Eligos hummed in agreement, copying the gesture. 

"They really are." He answered softly. "Everybody could see it except them."

Faith let out a breathy chuckle, sort of mesmerized at how green his eyes are. It reminds her of lush forests and beautiful jungles- so easy to get lost in. "Since we are currently embracing the theme of us starting to inherit some traits from our professors, do you ever wonder if people see _something_ that we don't?"

"Sometimes." Eligos answered, smiling that charming smile of his. "Do _you_ think there's _something_ that people around us could see but we can't?"

"I don't know." Faith shrugged. When she noticed how close they're getting, she cleared her throat and moved away slightly, making a reasonable space between them. Eligos seemed to have thought the same.

 _Snap out of it. He has a girlfriend for Pete's sake. Your better than this, Bridgets._ Faith mentally scolded, running a hand through her red hair. Sensing the tension growing between them, she tried to joke. "Read up, Forshaw. God knows you've got more snoozes than information when we went into the library."

Eligos playfully nudged her, huffing. "You really wound me sometimes. Am I really you're friend or what?"

"Of course." Faith simply smiled, relieved that their old dynamic is back. But something from the back her mind is bothering her.

 _Are you sure that you only see him as a friend?"_ Her inner conscience asked.

"I'm sure." She muttered quietly so only she can hear it. "Just friends, nothing more."

Oh if only she were aware of the confusion Eligos was going through right now, not knowing who he truly loves anymore. Or more accurately, if _Frankie_ is the one he _truly loves_ anymore.

<0>

"It was....impressive." Hastur said, looking like congratulating them is slowly killing him. Well, it may be on the inside. 

"Yes, It was rather informative and well presented than we expected." Ligur added, physically trying to restrain himself from gagging at what he said. Crowley just gave them a shit eating grin while Aziraphale politely thanked them.

"Why thank you! We couldn't have done it without Ms. Bridgets and Mr. Forshaw." Aziraphale said, nodding at the two students. Faith waved it off, smiling slightly

"You both are not off the hook yet." Hastur said. "We will still attend the screening and the last day of this excursion."

"One mistake, and let's just say you four would be in very big trouble." Ligur said, smiling evilly.

"Anyway!" Crowley jumped in, clasping his hands loudly. "Thank you so much for visiting, appreciated your support, but we really have a busy day today. And don't you have students to, uh, watch in detention? Can't keep those rascals waiting, right?" 

Grumbling, the dark duo exited the room. And when the four are sure they are out of earshot, they all let out a collective sigh. 

"We actually did it!" Crowley laughed, slapping his knee. "Thank fuck we pulled it off."

"Two more days to go, then." Eligos shrugged, pocketing his hands. He turned to look at Faith, giving her a bright smile. "Easy peasy, right?"

"Yep, two more." Faith nodded, smiling back. Aziraphale cleared his throat, getting the attention of the students.

"I hate to break this blissful moment, but I really have an awful lot of things to do. I'll go ahead and see myself out."

"Wait! I'm coming too. It's my free period next, maybe I can help you out in your next class." Faith said. "So, milkshakes and fries after school?"

Eligos nodded. "Milkshakes and fries. See you then Cherub."

"Bye Darling." She winked, giggling afterwards. "Goodbye, Mr. Crowley."

"See you later. Oh, and Angel? We need to pick Eve up after classes. Meet me at the parking lot, yeah?"

"Of course, my dear." Aziraphale smiled, letting Faith exit first before going out himself, closing the door behind him.

"So," Crowley spoke up after a few beats of silence, grinning. "A date huh? Starting to realize you like a her more than the cheerleader?"

Eligos groaned, rolling his eyes. "She's my best friend! I still love Frankie, thank you very much." He reassured Crowley, or if he were being honest, he was reassuring himself too. He knows he still loves his girlfriend, no matter how protective and sometimes controlling she could get...but, why does it start to feel a bit...wrong? Ignoring his inner thoughts, he went back to bantering with his professor. "And come on, don't tease me like you never took Mr. Fell out on a date before."

Crowley froze on the spot. Eligos noticed the professor's nervous look, making his eyebrows shoot up to his hairline. "Wait....."

<0>

"He actually asked you out? Like on a date?!" Faith asked, eyes wide and mouth open. Aziraphale blushed slightly, fiddling with his suitcase's handle. When no reply came, Faith squeeled, taking the silence as a yes.

"Holy mother of god hE DID ASK YOU OUT! FINALLY!" 

"Oh please, don't over-analyze this. It was just a thank you gift from him. Honestly, he didn't have to bother with all that-"

"Exactly! Any other person could've just bought you a card, patted you on the back and tipped their hat on the way out. But Crowley _actually_ made an Effort!" Faith pointed out. Aziraphale looked away, slightly knowing that Faith has a point. "And please, Mr. Fell. Don't lie to me about how you secretly wished it was _really_ a proper date--"

"Okay, alright!" Aziraphale interrupted her ranting. He stopped walking, pulling Faith closer. Looking around to make sure no one was eavesdropping, he dropped his voice to a whisper. "Fine, I admit it; I may.....I may have a _very_ small crush on him." 

Faith squeeled even louder than before, starting to gather the attention of people who passed by. "Shhhhhhhhh! So what if I do like him?! It's not like--"

<0>

"--he'll feel the same way." Crowley sulked, slightly upset that his TA finally saw through his denial and made him admit the feelings he had. Eligos, the proud bastard, sat across him, smug as fuck while he listened. "Who would pick me, a messy professor who likes to wear shades wherever he goes? I'm a mess! I am way out of his league." 

Eligos raised an eyebrow, giving him an incredulous look.

"Besides, I kinda told him it was just a thank you gift for helping me out. There is no way he would wish it were a proper date."

Sighing, he just shook his head. Sure, it'll take them a long time, but this is the type of thing he and Faith couldn't meddle with. They'll figure it out someday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *gasp* Lilith isn't a bad guy after all! Oooh, is something blooming between our professors and TAs? What?! Any questions? Comments are open for you! Lots of love!


	10. Can You Feel The Love Tonight? (Part One)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crowley gets pep-talked for his date. Eligos starts to realize things. Things are going fine.
> 
> For now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I can see what's happening_   
>  _And they don't have a clue_   
>  _They'll fall in love and here's the bottom line -_
> 
>  
> 
> FINALLY ANOTHER UPDATE!
> 
> though short, I decided to write something up and update this story after 8 full months of silence, with or without the presence of my co-creator for now. You guys have been so patient and supporting and I feel like you all deserve an update.
> 
> Don’t worry, this doc will be updated soon again! The show is back on the road!

”We have a problem.”

Faith sat there with an amused look on her face. A few minutes ago, she has been called by a very anxious Crowley and asked if she could help him with something very important. Faith came over after finishing her little hang out with Eli, thinking of the countless happenings that got him all worked up like this; turns out it was that _thank you date_ he and Aziraphale would be going to in an hour.

”It doesn’t matter what type of flowers you’ll give him or what suit you’ll wear; I’m pretty sure Professor Fell would still like you nonetheless. So please, calm down before you pop a vein.” Faith eased, leaning back on the plush seat. Looking around, she noticed the lacking presents of a small ray of sunshine playing or cooing about. “I thought Eve’s going to come hone tonight?”

”Aunty Ashtoreth insisted that she’ll stay for one more night.” He grumbled. “Said that I deserve one more night to myself and...”Crowley trailed off, his cheeks getting warmer as every second passed by.

She raised a brow, smiling. “And?”

”To enjoy my date.” Crowley grumbled with a gulo on blush, making Faith laugh. “Yeah, yeah. Poke fun at the old man, will you? It’s been a while, okay?! What if I screw things up or embarrass myself or do something wrong or-“

Faith sighed as Crowley started to rant on yet again, making her pinch the bridge of her nose. This really needs to stop. “Professor...Professor...Crowley!”

This caused Crowley to stop, staring at Faith. She stood up and placed her hands on his shoulders. “Sir, you are clever, charismatic, and funny. You are a great father and friend; there is absolutely nothing that could make Aziraphale grow tired of you, let alone make him disappointed. You got this!”

The red-haired man stayed silent for a few moments before nodding, standing up straighter. “I got this.” He said, clearing his throat. “I really got this.”

”Of course you do.” Faith smirked. “Now go and pick him up before you both arrive late for your own date.” She chuckled.

<0>

_Home sweet home_ , thought Eligos as he plopped his bag on the floor before collapsing on the couch, letting out a deep, tired sigh. It's been a long week, and he is eager to spend his Friday night lazing around before attending the yearly backyard barbeque his family hosts--which reminds him, he has to ask Frankie to come with h-

_Ding_

The notification prompted Eligos to grab his phone and read the message, the sender's ID displaying three red hearts*, meaning it was from none other than his girlfriend.

*He distictly remembers how Frankie pouted and stomped around when she discovered how _simple_ her nickname was on his phone, and demanded he at least added more hearts, because she was worth more than one (and said comment hit something deep inside Eligos, who chose to ignore it around that time).

_From: ❤️❤️❤️_

_Hey Honeyboo! I'm going away for three days to celebrate Chelsea's birthday. We'll be staying at her dad's vacation home somewhere. Don't worry, i'll be back on Tuesday! 😘😘😘_

Brows scrunched up, Eligos typed up a reply.

_From: Honeybunch💖_

He found himself slightly frowning at his sender's ID, which made him feel slightly off. He usually goofily smiled whenever he saw it, especially since Frankie picked it out for him.

_That's great to hear, hon...but you know that it's my family's backyard barbeque tomorrow. Couldn't you find a way to join that mini-vacation a bit late so you could come with me? My family's expecting you to come, you know..._

He sent it with a sigh. Not a minute later, she rang him up. Of course, Eligos answered it with his sweet and enthusiastic voice, although it's starting to sound a bit forced.

"Hey Hon! So-"

"Eligos! Are you really going to make me miss a 3 day vacation in Malibu because of a stupid family barbeque?!" Came Frankie's shrill voice, making him wince and take the phone a few inches away from his ear. It takes a few seconds for him to register what she had just said, and it made him take a sharp breath, anger starting to bubble up.

"A _family gathering_ isn't stupid, Franks." Eligos said seriously, trying to calm down. He heard Frankie snort through the phone, her eye-roll almost tangible.

"Well it is, Honey. Snap out of it." She scoffed. Eligos couldn't believe heat he's hearing. Eligos tuned out Frankie as she went on and on with how important this trip to Malibu is and why she can't miss it. How could his own girlfriend brush aside this family gathering _they_ invited her to?! How could she carelessly say that none of this matters?!

"I can't..." He blurted out, making Frankie stop mid-rant. "I just can't believe you sometimes, Bowers. How selfish you are is shocking." He huffed. And with that, he ended the phine and tossed it aside, burying his face in his hands.

Why was Frankie acting so freaking _rude_ lately? Well, more than usual, at least. Or was she like this all the time, and he just didn't see it? Why didn't he see it sooner?!

_Because you didn't have a pretty, red-haired woman who showed you that you deserve so much more before,_ a voice inside him whispered faintly. Eligos instantly remembered kind blue eyes that hid behind glasses instead of icy, cold ones hidden under fake lashes.

"Snap out of it, Eli." He grubled, rubbing his face. He was sill in a _relationship_ , goddamit.

Another phone call seemed to snap him out of his thoughts.

”What?”

”Woah, someone had a rough day.”

”Faith.” He breathed out, eyes widening. Eligos wanted to use the expression _speak of the devil_ , but Faith isn’t the devil. She’s more of an angel, honestly.

”Hello? Am I still talking to someone?

”Y-yeah, I’m just...tired.” Eligos said, sighing. It wasn’t a lie.

”Oh.” Faith said, voice seemingly disappointed. “So, I can’t come over?”

”N-no! Feel free to.”

”Cool. Open the door.”

Eligos froze. Faith was here? Rushing to the door, he came face to face with Bridgets, in all his Faith-y glory, leaning against the doorframe with a smile. That damn infectious smile.

_Get it together._

”There you are.” Faith chuckled, tilting her head sideways. “Hi.”

”Hello.” Eligos said, just staring at her. Realizing their both still on the phone, he cleared his throat. “I think I can hang up now.”

”Yeah.” Faith grinned, tucking her phone away when Eli did end the call. “Can I ask what got you so worked up?”

”Bowers.” Foreshaw admitted with a small frown. Faith’s expression dropped.

”Oh.”

He chuckled. “Come on, I’ll tell you the whole thing over coffee.” He said, opening the door wider for her to enter.

”Yes please.” She said, patting his shoulder as she joined him inside his place. “Then, we binge a rerun of Doctor Who and some crisps to make everything feel better after we talk.”

Little did she know, Eligos felt better already.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _The sweet caress of twilight_  
>  _There's magic everywhere_  
>  _And with all this romantic atmosphere  
>  Disaster's in the air_ ( 😉 )
> 
>  
> 
> _Can you feel the love tonight?_  
>  _The peace the evening brings_  
>  _The world, for once, in perfect harmony_  
>  _With all its living things_
> 
>  
> 
> The title of the this (and the next chapter) is taken from Can You Feel The Love Tonight by Timon and Pumbaa from the Lion King!

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and Comments are appreciated! Constructive criticism wouldn't hurt :)


End file.
